Where secrets lie
by Maisy13
Summary: A man is found stabbed to death behind a dumpster. Our favorite CSI's go to work to find the killer. My first fic. GSR Complete
1. Chapter 1

**A/n:** This is my first fanfic, please read and review. 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI,or any of it's characters. Everything else is mine.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Sara stepped through the door, and looked around the busy restaurant, searching for that familiar head of curls. She spotted him in the back of the dining room, sitting at a table set for two. This was his night off, and she was meeting him for a late dinner. One of the great things about living in Vegas was that restaurants were open around the clock, and you could have a date anytime of day, and have your choice of cuisine. Tonight it was a small Italian place that they had been to on numerous occasions. As she walked to the table she noticed that he was reading an entomology magazine, and she again marveled at his ability to entertain himself whereever he might find himself. As she reached the table he looked up. She watched as his mind shifted from the world of science, and warmed at the sight of her.

"Hi, I'm glad you were able to get here. Anything interesting happen tonight?" he asked as she settled herself in her chair.

"No, in fact it's been a very slow night. Nick and Warrick said to take as long at dinner as I wanted, that they'll call my cell if something comes up." Sara picked up her menu, and was deliberating on whether to get the Eggplant Parmesan, or the Fettuccine Alfredo, when she felt her phone began to vibrate. Looking at the display, she saw that it was Warrick. She looked over at Gil and smiled, "Don't worry; maybe he just forgot to tell me something before I left." Looking around she saw that there were a few couples seated around them, not wanting to disturb them she excused herself to take the call in the alcove in the back of the restaurant that led to the restrooms and had an old fashioned payphone booth. She stepped into the both for privacy, and returned the call.

Watching her go, Grissom could hardly believe how happy she made him, and he kicked himself everyday that it had taken him so long to allow her a more personal place in his life. The waitress walked up and asked if they were ready to order. He told her that they may need a little more time on the food, but ordered Sara's usual "on the job" drink of iced tea. He was just thinking of going back to his magazine, when he became aware of someone standing next to him. At the clearing of a throat he looked up to find Catherine smiling down at him. His first instinct was to glance towards the alcove, but managed to resist, not wanting to give her any reason to glance that way.

"Gil, what are you doing here?" she asked. He could tell she was barely containing a smirk, and sought for something to say that would satisfy her curiosity. "Don't tell me that the introverted Grissom actually has a date?" she continued.

"Actually, I do. Though she seems to have stood me up. I've been waiting for over thirty minutes, so I'll probably leave soon. What are you doing here, hot date?"

"No, I'm meeting mom for a late dinner; she's still having trouble with what happened with Sam."

"Oh, do you want to join me until she gets here?" enquired Grissom.

"Are you sure? What if your date shows up and sees me here and gets the wrong idea"  
"Well it was a blind date, and I wasn't really looking that forward to it anyway, if she shows up this late, and sees you, I don't think it will ruin my life."

While Catherine was looking towards the front of the restaurant to see if her mother had shown up, Grissom chanced a quick glance towards the alcove. For a split second he saw Sara stick her head out to check out if Cath was still there, before ducking back into the shadows.

Sara had just finished her call from Warrick, which had turned out to be a call to a DB found in a dumpster behind a club called Chanteuse. She was about to walk back to the table, when she saw Catherine talking to Grissom. Talk about bad luck. From what she could see, Cath seemed to be settling in for awhile, and it looked as though Gil had invited her to stay. She could understand his reasoning behind that decision, it would allay her suspicions about who he was meeting, and keep her from looking around too much, making it less likely that she would see Sara, but there was no way she could get past the table without being seen, and she had to get to the crime scene.

As she was contemplating what to do, she saw Cath get up and head in her direction. With only a moment to think of what to do, she dove into the phone booth, and lifted the receiver, keeping her back turned to the entryway. If she was in luck, Cath was going to the ladies, and she could slip out after she'd gone in. Sara let out a huge breath a few seconds later when her luck held, and Cath did indeed go into the door marked Dolls, opposite the door marked Guys.

As quickly as possible, Sara slipped through the restaurant, gave Grissom a wave and a shrug, and headed out the door.

Grissom smiled at Sara's departure, and turned to the waitress who was setting down Sara's tea; he quickly gave her his empty glass, told her there had been a change of plans, and asked for the check. By the time Catherine got back, her Mom was walking through the door. He made his excuses, and headed home. If he remembered correctly, Animal Planet was airing a program on the ten most deadly insects, and he liked to watch and pick out the inaccuracies.

* * *

Sara pulled up behind the club, grabbed her kit and made her way past the crime scene tape. "Hey, what do we have?" she asked Warrick as she reached him and Nick. 

"Busboy came out about midnight to dump some trash, and have a smoke, when he noticed a hand sticking out from behind the dumpster. At first he thought it was a vagrant, but when he got a closer look… well I'd watch your step if I were you."

Sara looked over to Brass talking to a slight man, wearing a basic busboy uniform and sporting a mo-hawk, and multiple facial piercings. He looked as though he may still lose whatever was left in his stomach. His face was almost as pale as his white shirt, and he was shivering. "Have we ID'd the vic yet?"

"Yeah, his name was B.J. Johnson. Owner says he was a regular, and the last time she saw him was around 10pm, so that narrows down TOD. Ahh, here's David, he can give us a better estimate."

"Hey Guys, thought it was going to be a slow night, guess you should never count your chickens, huh. Had to call and cancel lunch with my fiancé." David said as he made is way to the body.

Smiling, Warrick turned to the others and asked "Ok, who wants what?"

Simultaneous calls of "I'll take the body" came from both Nick, and Sara.

"Oh no, I had the last dumpster". Sara exclaimed.

"How 'bout we rock, paper, scissors for it." Nick begged.

"Ah…No, I don't think so. If you'll remember, that's why I had the last one. I still believe that you changed your scissors to paper at the last minute when you saw I was going for rock." She gestured to the dumpster. "Go, and have yourself a grand ole' time." She turned to Warrick and saw the grin he couldn't quite hide in time.

"Lead the way." She said gesturing with her kit towards the dumpster. They made their way to the body. Sara knelt down and opened her kit. Taking out a pair of gloves, and putting them on.

"Doesn't look like he fought back, no defensive wounds." said David, turning the hands to show them the palms.

"Maybe it was someone who didn't make him feel threatened." Warrick said as he photographed the wounds. "It looks as if someone was in a rage; this looks like way more than a robbery. There was anger behind these punctures." He indicated the wounds to his throat, chest, and genitals.

"Plus... a thief will take your wallet, car keys, and cell phone, but I've never heard of one taking the victims clothes." Sara wryly pointed out.

"David can you get us a liver temp so we can estimate TOD." Warrick watched as David inserted the digital thermometer. "Liver temp is 95.3 degrees." David looked at his watch, "It's 1:10 now, so I'd put TOD at between 10pm and 11pm"

"Ok… well, that jives with the owners account." Warrick turned to Sara, who had been examining the vic's hands. "Sara, did you find something?"

"I've got some kind of black transfer on the tip of the thumbs. Could be ink, I'll get a sample to Hodges for analysis."

Nick poked his head over the edge of the dumpster. "Hey guys, I think I've got the vic's clothes, and his wallet. You know if this was a robbery, why not take the wallet with you. The thief could use the ID… sell the name to some under age kid looking for a fake ID."

"Maybe the thief was inexperienced, grabbed the cash and ran." Sara turned from her position kneeling beside the vic to look at Nick.

"Except that doesn't account for the amount of damage done to him, it also doesn't account for the removal of his clothes." Warrick said looking around, hoping to find some kind of answer in the alley detritus.

"Okay David, go ahead and load him up. Sara and I will finish going over the area, and talking to the witnesses. Nick, you know what needs to be done, we'll meet up back at the lab later"

"Sure thing, Boss." Nick said before ducking back down into the mounds of trash. Sara, suppressing a grin turned to look down the alley. She looked down the south end, and let her gaze travel the length up to the north end. "Did the vic have a car?"

"According to Ms. Bird, the owner of Chanteuse, it's still in the front parking lot." Brass replied, and Sara turned to see that he had joined them.

"Do we know any more about Mr. Johnson there?" Warrick asked, nodding towards the gurney bearing the body, being rolled towards the coroners van.

"Not much so far." Brass said, taking out his notepad. "His name is B.J. Johnson, he was a regular here, came in just about every night. I'm going to go talk to the employees that were working tonight; see if anyone saw him with anyone"

"While you're doing that, I'm going to check out his car." Sara said as she started to walk off. Looking back she called, "Hey Warrick, are you going back to the lab now, or joining Brass in the questioning. I know you think you're Superman, but even he can't be in two places at once."

Warrick sighed. "I don't know, someone needs to accompany the body back to the lab, but I also need to hear what the potential witnesses have to say."

"Well", Sara said, "Greg is already at the lab. He can process the body, while you help question the witnesses."

"I thought Greg was off tonight."

"He called and said he was coming in, said his mind was too busy and he needed something to keep him occupied, even if it was only paperwork. I'm sure he'd give you his entire stock of Blue Hawaiian if you were to give him something interesting to do." Sara said.

"You know what; I think I'll do that. If I were in his place, I don't know if I would have come back so soon." Warrick said thoughtfully.

"You know what they say; keeping busy will keep you sane." Sara called as everyone headed off to complete there respective tasks.

**TBC...**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n:** Unless something comes up, I'm going to try to update every Thursday. Please review. I always like to know what you think. Thanks to odeepblue, NM Grissom, and RenLissa for your reviews. Rating is for subject matter.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI, or any of its characters, everything else is mine.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Greg's phone rang just as he was taking his burrito out of the microwave. Looking at the display, he saw that is was Warrick. He flipped the phone open, hoping that Warrick would have something for him to do.

"Hey Boss, enjoying your time in the sun, or well not sun, but you know, moon. It's been a while since you lead shift, you didn't get rusty did ya?"

"Funny." Warrick deadpanned. "I was going to ask if you were up for some actual work, but I can see you're finding your desk chair quite comfortable."

"Hey, you know I'm just jealous. I'll be ready for retirement before Grissom will give me shift."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry Greggo; Grissom will know when you're ready and you'll get your chance, or he will retire, and his successor will give you a chance. So you'd better be nice, you never know who that will be." Warrick laughed. "Okay, seriously I've got a job for you. "

Yeah, well I …" Greg started to say he was up for anything, but than remembered that his ribs were still kind of tender, and he didn't know if his stomach could deal with a decomp. Just the thought of the smell made his stomach make itself felt, and he knew his ribs wouldn't take any retching. Deciding to find out what Warrick had for him, before agreeing, he quickly amended what he had been about to say. "Yeah, that would depend on what you have."

"What I have is a DB headed to the morgue that needs to be processed."

Visions of leaning over an, who knows how long dead body for hours made Greg's stomach clench. "You know Warrick; I really do have a lot of paperwork to get finished. Maybe Sara would like to process the body." Greg said, trying to sound offhand.

"Sorry buddy, Sara's already busy going over the vic's car. He's only been dead a couple of hours, so any evidence on him will still be fresh, and we need to process it before too much more time passes."

Greg's stomach muscles relaxed at this. Trying to sound casual, Greg said, "Well, if no one else is available, I guess I can do it"

"Thanks man. Pay special attention to the tips of his thumbs, Sara found some black smudges on them. Make sure you get samples to Hodges. He was found behind a dumpster, so be sure to document everything, we don't know what matters and what doesn't. It seems he was stabbed, multiple times. I'm sure Doc will confirm that as the cause of death."

Greg heard someone say Warrick's name. Than he heard Warrick's muffled voice say, "Hold on man, I'm getting to that" Chuckling, Warrick came back on the line. "Nick wants me to remind you to give us a call as soon as Doc narrows down possible weapons. You see, Nick's been dumpster diving since we got here. He wants any info he can get on possible weapons, so he can narrow down the search. He's already checked the dumpster the vic was found behind, and found his clothes and wallet. He didn't find anything that looked to be the murder weapon though, so he's going to have to go through the rest of the dumpsters in the alley."

"I think I can do that. How much longer do you think you're going to be?"

"Brass is going to question the employees of the club, and I want to be around for that. Hopefully it won't take too long." Warrick replied, sounding cautiously optimistic.

"Okay man, see you when you get here." Greg flipped his phone closed, and headed toward the morgue, devouring his burrito on the way.

* * *

Sara walked up to where Warrick was sitting with Brass. They were listening to a woman with platinum hair. 

"…usually only came in once or twice a week, but he's been in every night this week." She was saying as Sara sat the chair beside Warrick.

"Did he always come in alone, or did he have company?" Brass asked.

"He would come in alone, but he wouldn't remain that way." The waitress looked around as if worried someone would overhear her.

Looking around, Sara saw the runway lined with stripper polls, which was… normal to see in a strip joint, but opposite that was a stage set up with a microphone and karaoke machine, which didn't seem to fit the image.

"So he came in alone, but met someone here. Did he always meet the same person, or did his interests vary?" Brass continued the questioning.

"Umm… well, usually it was a different person each time, but this last week he met the same person each night. Except that tonight, he met with someone else first." Again she seemed nervous about who might be around. Her voice barely rose above a whisper as she answered.

"And… do you know the name of the person he's been meeting?" Brass was holding on to his patience by sheer will.

When she didn't immediately answer, he said. "Look, if he was seeing one of the girls and you're afraid she wouldn't want you to tell us, well she's just going to have to get over it. We need to find out as much about him to help us determine how and why he was murdered."

At this she gave a little laugh. "He wasn't meeting one of the girls. To tell you the truth, I don't think that's why he came here. When he came in, he would sit facing the stage. Unlike most of the schlubs who come in here, he didn't even seem interested in the girls. He would just come in and sit, watching the singers and keeping an eye on the door. Usually within a few minutes a guy would come in, and they would talk a while, them they'd get up and leave. Later he would come back in alone. He'd get up and sing a couple of songs, than pay his tab and leave. He always left a good tip."

"Yeah, I noticed the karaoke stage, seems kind of odd for a strip club." Brass gestured to the stage.

"That's Jen's idea. Instead of dancing to recorded music, the girls dance to the patrons songs. I wasn't sure of it when she first introduced it, but the guys seem to like it. Some even bring in their girlfriends. The women sing, while the guys watch the girls. Eh, it seems to work for them." She looked relieved to be on a different topic.

"Jen is the owner, Ms. Bird? Brass asked, taking notes.

The waitress said yes, and Brass nodded.

"Okay, Ms. Temple…."

"Please, call me Sandy." She insisted.

Brass smiled, "Sandy, did you notice anything different tonight? You said he's been meeting the same guy this week. Did he do anything different than he normally would? Try to go over it from when he first walked in."

"Well, he came in at about his usual time, around ten, but it wasn't long before two men came in, one of them went to the bar, the other went to see Mr. Johnson. It looked like they were arguing. I couldn't hear what they were saying from where I was, but I walked up to see if they wanted anything, and then I heard the other man say, 'You have until tomorrow, don't even think of being late.' Then he looked up at me, and gave me a leery kinda smile. It gave me the heebie jeebies." She shivered as she said the last.

"Do you think you could describe this guy?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah… well I'm pretty sure I could. He had…"

Warrick interrupted her. "Not now, give yourself some time to get his picture clear in your head. We're going to need you to come down to the station to talk to a forensic artist. You'll give them his description. For now, just finish telling us what happened."

"Okay, after he looked at me like that, I left pretty quick, forgot to even take their order, not that they looked to want anything. Uhh… then, they argued some more, in hushed tones, then the guy got up to leave, and his friend joined him. One thing though, as he turned from the bar I could see that the other guy had a gun strapped on his shoulder." She sounded as if something more had happened, but they decided to let it go for now.

"Keep going, what happened next?" Brass encouraged.

"Well, Mr. Johnson just sat there looking kinda down, until a few minutes later, when the guy that he's been meeting came in. After he arrived, Mr. Johnson looked happier, and after a few minutes, they left like they normally did. Although normally he would come back in alone, with this new guy, they both usually came back in together, or not at all."

"About what time did they leave?" Brass asked

"I don't know the exact time, but it was after eleven, but before eleven thirty."

"Do you think he was into drugs, and that these guys he was meeting were his dealers?" asked Warrick.

"Could be, but he didn't really look like a druggie." She shrugged.

"Okay, thank you for your help." Brass gestured to an officer standing by the door. "If you'll go with Officer Jenkins, he'll take you to the station and introduce you to the forensic artist, but first could you write down your full name and phone number for me." He gave her a small spiral note pad. After this was done and she'd left, he turned to Warrick and Sara.

"What do you guys think?" he asked, is eyes shifting between the two of them.

"She's hiding something, or at least not telling us everything she knows." Sara nodded toward the waitress, who had gathered her belongings, and was walking toward the door.

"Yeah, I caught that too. I'll catch up with her at the station, maybe she'll talk more freely away from here. It's amazing what a stay in a cold interrogation room will do for your willingness to part with information." Brass said gleefully.

"Well, I've finished with the car. I don't think there's anything probative, but I'll go over what I gathered, see if anything jumps out at me." Sara said, standing up.

"We still have a couple of people to question, so I'll see you at the lab later." Warrick gave Sara a nod, and turned to Brass." Who's next?"

"The bartender, maybe we can get some info on Sandy that will give us something to go on when we question her again." Brass smiled.

There voices faded away, as Sara made her way to the door.

* * *

**TBC...**


	3. Chapter 3

**1 a/n:** I know this chapter is light on case info, but the next few chapters will probably be more case intensive, and there is pertinent info in this chapter. I also wanted to show the gang hanging out, since I always love that. Please read and review.

**2 a/n:** The veggie sausage mentioned is Morning Star brand. Though I am not a vegetarian, I do eat a lot of veggie products. It's easy, and usually low in fat. I'm just not sure I could ever give up meat, especially turkey at Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and don't even get me started on trying to be vegan. Not gonna happen.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own them, but I have a bid in (not). Anthony Zuiker won't give them up. The other characters and story are all mine.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Greg stood next to the gurney as Doc Robbins examined the wounds on the body. This part of the job was never his favorite, but he would never let anyone know it.

"Entry wound is small. The deepest penetration is five inches, with shallower penetrations of varying depths. This is the case in the throat, chest, and genitals." Doc leaned in closer, "There seems to be some trace around the edges of the throat entry wounds." Picking up a magnifying glass, he looked closer. "Substance appears to be white, and flaky. Too delicate to pick up with tweezers, I'll do a tape lift for you to get to Hodges." Doc pressed the taped to the wound and pressed to make sure to pick up the trace. He then handed the tape to Greg, who put it in a bindle.

"Thanks, I've already taken a sample of the trace on his finger tips, is there anything else that stands out?" Greg asked quizzically.

Doc took a few minutes to go over the other wounds. "Hold on, I think… yes, there is something here." He said leaning close to the wounds on the genital area. Picking up the tweezers, he picked up what appeared to be a small jewel. "This could be from the murder weapon." Greg picked up a bindle for him to put the evidence in.

"Anything to indicate what sort of weapon was used?" Greg inquired.

"Weapon was about, a half inch wide, judging by the deepest penetration, I'd say it was about 5 inches long. Not terribly sharp. In fact I'd say it was on the rough side, and if the jewel is from it, than it was decorated. I'll know more after full autopsy." Doc started putting away his instruments.

"When do you think you'll get to that?" Greg asked, looking up at Doc.

"It probably won't be until tomorrow night. I've got an alleged suicide and a fatality from a car accident to do tonight, than I'm going home to crash. I've got a court case tomorrow afternoon, and I don't want to be nodding off during that." Doc said as he covered the body with a sheet, getting it ready to be put into the cooler.

"Okay, Thanks Doc, good luck in court tomorrow" Greg said, walking toward the door.

* * *

Greg was walking down the corridor toward trace; he had just hung up the phone to Nick, when Catherine came out of the door in front of him. Greg lifted a hand and waved. "Hey Cath, I thought you were off tonight."

"I am, but I was having dinner with my Mom, and after we split up I didn't feel up to going home. Lindsey's not hpme, and the house just seemed too empty. Thought I'd take a look at what's been happening with my B&E from the other night. What are you up to?"

Greg filled her in on the case, and asked her what she thought.

"Sounds like a jealous girlfriend, or boyfriend. Was he seeing someone?" she raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know. I was just on body processing duty. Warrick will probably know more when he gets in. He, Sara, and Nick are out at the scene."

* * *

The clock was just striking seven am when Warrick and Nick walked into the lab. Nick headed to the evidence locker to drop off his evidence bags, while Warrick headed towards Grissom's office to call Brass. The plan had been to go directly to the station and question Sandy Temple, but while he and Brass had been questioning the bartender, and getting more reasons to question Sandy more in depth, they had gotten the call that she had somehow gotten away from the officer escorting her to the police station, and he hadn't been able to find her. Brass picked up on the second ring. "Hey, have you learned anything yet?"

Brass exhaled loudly before he answered. "Well Rick, you would think a scared waitress, with limited places to hide would be easy to find, but we're not having any luck. I suggest you go on home and get some sleep, hopefully by tonight I'll have something for you."

Warrick stretched, and stifled a yawn as he made his reply, "Okay man, I'll see you tonight, get some sleep yourself." He hung up the phone and headed out the door.

He met up with Sara as she was coming up the hall. "Hey, I've logged all the evidence from the car, and I thought I'd get it processed tonight. As I said, I don't think it will tell us anything about the murder, but maybe it will tell us something about the victim, I also had the car towed to impound in case I needed to go over it again. You got anything else you need me to do?"

"No, go on home and get some sleep. I'll see you tonight." He turned to walk away, but turned back, "Uh, do you know where Nick went?"

"Yeah, just saw him, he mumbled something about taking a shower, and I can't say I blame him. Why… did you need something?"

"Nah, he just owes me a breakfast, and I intend to make sure he pays up. You're welcome to come with us."

"Oh, no, I just want to go home and cuddle up with my … uh, cuddle up with my pillow, and maybe a nice hot, steaming… shower." As Sara said this she couldn't prevent an anticipatory smile from spreading over her face. Going home in the mornings had become one her favorite things.

Warrick noticed the smile, but decided not to comment on it. Sara had been a lot mellower lately, and he was okay with whatever put that smile on her face.

Warrick headed toward the locker room to catch up with Nick. As he was walking down the hallway, he saw Catherine sitting in her office. Noting that she looked kind of down, he decided on the spur of the moment to drop in and see how she was.

"Hey Lady, what's got you looking so down?" He said as he sauntered into the room.

"Ah Warrick, How was shift?" she asked, avoiding the question. "I saw Greg earlier, and he said something about a DB?"

"Oh, well you know, not much to say at the moment. Nothing much we can do until tonight. I was just about to collect a breakfast Nick owes me. You want to come along. Maybe we could find Greg and make it a real family outing." He offered this last with a smile.

"You know, that might be just what the doctor ordered. It's been a while since we all had breakfast together; of course, Grissom's not here, but what about Sara?" As she said this, Catherine stood, and gathered her purse from her bottom drawer.

"I already asked her, she said she only wanted to go home and get comfortable. Maybe we should call Grissom and see if he wants to join us." They exited the room together, closing the door behind them.

"I don't think that Grissom would be up for that this early, I saw him late last night, and he's probably still sound asleep." Catherine said, and Warrick looked at her quizzically.

"Umm, you were at Grissom's last night?" He hoped he didn't sound too accusatory.

"No I…," She caught his look and couldn't hold back her laughter. "Get you mind out of the gutter, Grissom's my dearest friend, and though I'll admit he's a handsome man, I've never looked at him like that. No, I saw him at the restaurant that I was meeting my mother at. He was waiting on a blind date."

"Grissom… had a date?" He couldn't quite contain his disbelief.

"Don't look so surprised," she chided, "he is human you know, he has needs."

Warrick conceded, "I guess you're right, I just find it hard to picture."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, she stood him up, so I don't think he'll be walking around here, extolling the joys of being in love." She looked up and saw Greg standing by the water fountain. "There's Greg, let's ask him to join us."

"Hey Greg, you feel up for some breakfast?" Warrick asked, he tried to look interested, but was still stuck on what Cath had just said. He wondered what Grissom would look like in love.

"Don't mind if I do, where are we going?" He smiled as Warrick gave him a look. "Never mind, where else would we go, Frank's it is."

Nick walked up at that moment, "Did I hear someone mention Frank's?" he looked towards Greg, but it was Warrick that answered.

"You sure did, and I'm going to collect that breakfast you owe me." Warrick clapped him on the back.

"Remind me again why it is you think I owe you a breakfast." Nick said as they headed down the hall towards the door.

"Aw man, don't even try to pretend that you didn't bet me one free meal last week that you could get Sara to take two dumpsters in a row. You just don't want to believe that you're not as persuasive as you think you are." Warrick laughed.

"How 'bout we go double or…" Warrick cut him off.

"No man, I know my limits. I'll take my free breakfast, and be happy." Catherine and Greg laughed at this.

"He's got you man, just pay up and be glad it's only a breakfast. It's not like that time I had to paint my nails red for a week because I bet him that Grissom wouldn't notice that I'd thrown away that experiment of his that had been in the refrigerator for a month. Who knew he even remembered it was in there. It's just lucky that we spend most of our time at crime scenes with gloves on. You'd better believe I found a reason to where gloves just about everywhere." Greg was still skittish about making any more bets with Warrick.

"Oh, so that's what that was about. I thought you were turning into a germaphobe." Catherine said as she smiled at the guys. This was just what she needed, a little light hearted banter with friends to take her mind off things.

As they walked though the door going to their cars, Sara was walking towards her car talking into her cell phone. She suddenly gave a shout of laughter that caught everyone's attention. At the sight, they all turned to look at each other, but no one said anything.

They piled into their cars and headed for breakfast.

* * *

Sara walked into the townhouse, and was greeted by the sound of activity in the kitchen. She dropped her purse on the table by the door, and made her way silently towards the sounds. As she stood in the door way, watching as Gil poured batter into a waffle maker; she couldn't help but think of how lucky she was. She wasn't one to need someone to complete her life, but it sure felt nice to have someone to compliment it. As she stood there debating on whether to catch his attention, or enjoy the view a bit longer, the decision was made for her when her stomach gave a rather loud growl. Gil turned, and gave her a smile, "Hello Dear, you were a bit longer getting here than I expected. Waffles will be done after this one, and the veggie sausage is ready to go in the microwave. By the way, what took you so long getting here?"

Sara smiled, "Well there was a certain scientist that sounded down right heart broken to be out of coffee, so I stopped by the store to pick up some. Gil… you do remember our phone conversation earlier, where you oh so nonchalantly mentioned your need for caffeine?" She walked over to him, and put her arms around him and leaned up for a morning kiss.

He wrapped his arms around her, and gave her a hug. "I didn't expect you to go out of your way; I was just feeling a bit cranky.

"Well… I know you wouldn't expect me to do something just because you mentioned wanting it. That's why I did it. It's nice to do things for people when they don't expect it." Sara turned toward the counter to set down the bag that had been hanging off her wrist. Just then, her stomach growled again.

"Sounds like you could use something to eat. Did you get anything last night?" Gil turned to remove the last waffle from the iron.

"Not really, I grabbed a cereal bar round four this morning, but it hardly made a dent. Why don't I set the table, while you finish the food, and I'm sure you'll want to put on a pot of that coffee?" She pushed him toward the pot, and he gave her a grin.

"Yes, Dear." He watch for a second while she leaned up to get the plates, than turned to finish put on the coffee. He was a lucky man indeed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, there was a small problem, but it's fixed now.**

**1A/N:** I really had planned to have more happen in this chapter, but I had problems with the Warrick/Grissom conversation, and I ran out of time if I want to stick to my dead line. I would really appreciate it if you guys would let me know if I stayed in character.

**2A/N:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I can't tell you how good it makes me feel that you guys are enjoying my story.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any characters from CSI, nor do I own any part of the show. Everything else is mine.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Sara was in the layout room, meticulously going through the items she had collected from the victim's car. As she sorted, she hummed under her breath, occasionally singing a few lyrics.

From the glove compartment she had collected a ton of paper, most of which had turned out to be trash, but she has found an address book, and a couple of pieces of mail. She also found that, though the car was in the vic's name, the insurance was in the name of a Janet Freely. She made a note of the name to look into.

From the center console she had collected some more mail. These appeared to be personal letters. They had been sent from a Mae Riley. One of the envelopes contained a card. In fact it was a Father's Day card. Inside was a picture of little boy about one year old. The message read,

Dear B.J., I know that you may not care, but I wanted you to have a picture of your son. I'm not going to ask for money anymore, it hasn't helped in the past. I promised you that I would never deny you access to your son, if you wish to talk to him, or just find out more about him, my phone number is the same. Mae.

The other letter was a letter that seemed to predate the card. In it she asks why he hasn't sent any money, when ostensibly that was why he had come to Vegas. It seems that he had gotten a job in construction so that could better provide for his child.

"Hey, did you find anything?" Warrick asked as he came through the door.

Sara looked up; she filled him in on the ex-girlfriend, and his son. "The letters are dated Dec. 2003, the card is post marked a year later. If… he had any contact with his son, I didn't find evidence of that in his car. What do you got?" Sara turned towards him.

"The waitress is still in the wind, so I'm about to head over to the vic's home, you want to come with, or do you want to stick with this." He indicated the papers on the table.

"I've found out all I can from this lot, let me clear up, and I'll meet you at the car." Sara started to put the papers away.

"All right, but first I've got to go by Grissom's office." He turned at the door. "First one to the car drives?"

"You're on!" Sara beamed, and went back to cleaning off the table. As soon as Warrick was out of the door, she took out her phone, and called Grissom.

"Hi, it's me. Look, don't ask any questions, but Warrick is on way to see you. It'd mean ever so much if you could keep him occupied for about…" She looked about at what she still needed to do. "Say 15 minutes."

"Uh, you wouldn't be trying to use our personal relationship to get favors at work, would you?" Smiling, Grissom looked out his door and saw Warrick heading towards his office.

"This has nothing to do with our relationship; it has to do with me not wanting to put my life on the line. We made a bet that the first one to the car would drive. You know he's not exactly the most temperate of drivers. Look… you know I don't ask for favors… in the office."

Grissom turned to see Warrick at the door. "All right, I think I can honor your request... but we'll discuss this later, when we can get into it more." He gestured him in. "I'll let you know then what I'll require." He hung up the phone, and gave Warrick a questioning look.

"Uh, I can see that you're busy. I was just heading out myself; I just wanted to touch base with you first. Why don't we catch up later?" He was already turning to exit as he said this.

Grissom looked at him over the top of his glasses. "You're not disturbing me. I was just going over a couple of reports. Sit down; tell me about your case. Do you have any suspects yet?" Grissom's face remained impassive as he asked this.

Warrick glanced over his shoulder before answering. "No. No real suspects yet." He filled him in on the missing waitress. "So now Sara and I are heading over to the vic's home, I thought we might be able to find out something about him. The folks at the club didn't know all that much about him, just that he was a regular.

"What about this guy he had an argument with? Do we know any more about him?" Grissom leaned back in his chair, getting comfortable.

"No one else recognized him, or if they did they're keeping mum about it." Warrick was still standing behind the chair in front of the desk.

"Are you in a hurry to be somewhere Warrick?" Grissom asked.

"Wellll.. I'm supposed to meet Sara at the car so we can head out to the vic's house." Warrick again glanced toward the door.

"I'm sure Sara will understand when you tell her that I asked you to fill me in on the case. Why don't you start from the beginning?" Sighing, Warrick sat and started to fill him in.

* * *

Twenty minutes later he opened the passenger side door, and slide in beside Sara. "Man, I've never known Grissom to be so talkative. I was beginning to think I'd never get out of there!"

Sara grinned. "Grissom always likes a full report after his day off. At least he has from me. Nick also. I can't say I recall if Catherine has ever given a report, but I assume she has. He likes to know what's going on. You're just mad because you don't get to drive."

Sara reversed out of their spot, than accelerated toward the exit. "Which way?"

"Make a left on Stewart, than drive until you get to Tropicana." Warrick leaned back in his seat and tried to relax. It promised to be a long night.

-  
Brass was just about to take a bite of his cheeseburger when his cell chirped. Sighing, he put the burger down and flipped his phone open. "Brass." His tone as clipped as anyone's would be whose dinner was being delayed.

"Hey Captain, we found that women you were looking for. Sandy Temple." Brass sat up straighter.

"Sure, yeah, yeah, where is she?" Brass pulled a notebook out of his coat pocket, his dinner forgotten.

"Looks like her car broke down just this side of the California state line. State trouper picked her up a few minutes ago; I called you as soon as I heard the call. I knew you'd want to know as quickly as possible." The deputy sounded quite smug as he said this. "You want me to head to the station, get a start on the paperwork?"

Brass rolled his eyes, he couldn't stand brownnosers. "Look… What's your name officer?"

"Brown, Sir. Deputy Ian Brown."

"Well Deputy Brown, why don't you just stay where you are, and I'll take over from here. Thanks for calling." Brass closed his phone, looked at the box containing his now cold dinner, and sighed. It was going to be one of those nights. He threw the box away as he walked out the door.

* * *

**Please read and review. There was a problem, but I fixed it. That teaches me to skip reading the whole chapter once it's up.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the CSI characters, or the show. The story, and all characters not contained in the show are mine.

**A/N:** Thank You everyone who has reviewed. This chapter was a little harder than I thought it would be, so please let me know what you think. **Happy Thanksgiving!**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Warrick and Sara pulled into the drive of the deceased's home. "Uh Warrick, you have the key right?" Sara cast him a questioning look.

"Well, from what I could find out, the house is a rental, and the owner is out of town, so we weren't able to get the keys from that quarter. Nick didn't find any keys when he went through the dumpster, so no help there…" Warrick trailed off.

Suppressing a smile Sara asked, "Sooo… how are we supposed to…" She was interrupted by a car horn from behind them.

"Ahh, here's our key." Warrick opened the door to get out.

Sara looked in the review mirror to see Sophia getting out of her car. Getting out of the car herself, she headed back to meet the detective. Warrick was already greeting her.

"Hey, that warrant must have taken you some time to get, I expected you to be here waiting when we got here." Warrick reached out for the warrant.

Handing it to him she said, "I was here 30 minutes ago, decided to go get a cup of coffee when you hadn't shown up after ten." At this she glanced at Sara. Looking back towards Warrick she said, "So what took you so long?"

"Ahh, Gris wanted an update on the case and it took a little longer than anticipated. Did you bring the key?" Sophia gestured towards the trunk, and walked back to open it. Warrick lifted out the battering ram. Then he turned to walk towards the house, Sophia and Sara followed.

"So… what do you expect to find here?" Sophia asked. A breeze whipped across the yard, and she tucked a strand of hair that it had blown loose back behind her ear.

"Anything that will lead us to someone that might have had a reason to kill B.J. Johnson. From what we found in his car he had contact from a women from Georgia." Sara said as they stepped up onto the porch. "Maybe we can find out more about her."

"How do we know she's from Georgia?" Warrick pulled open the screen door.

"After you left earlier, while I was putting up the letters, I looked at the post mark. It said Macon, Georgia." Looking at the door she asked, "So… should we knock first, maybe he didn't live alone."

Ah, come on Sara, can't you let me use this nice toy?" Warrick teased, indicating the battering ram.

"Hey, far be it for me to stand in your manly way, but you know what they say, An ounce of prevention." Sara grinned at him.

Sighing Warrick lifted his hand and knocked. No one answered. He knocked again, longer and louder this time. Lifting an eyebrow at Sara he said, "So, do you mind if I let us in now?"

"Have at it." Sara and Sophia stepped back to give him room.

Gripping the ram with one had on each of the handles; he swung it backwards and than towards the door, stopping before hitting it, building momentum. Rearing back again, he swung forward, and this time connected. The door splintered open. They all walked in looking around.

The room they found themselves in was a living room. To the right was a counter separating it from the kitchen. Two doors led off of the other side of the room. Warrick and Sara headed for these doors, snapping on there gloves. One led to a bathroom, the other to a small bedroom. A noise sounded from the kitchen. They turned and automatically reached for their weapons, when they saw a man standing there. He was wearing only boxer shorts and holding a baseball bat. Sophia, who had stayed in the living room, also had her gun drawn.

"Who…who are you and, and wh…what do you want?" The man stuttered.

"LVPD, put the bat down, and put your hands in the air!" Sophia voice sounded in the sudden silence.

His eye's shifting between the three people with guns; he slowly lowered the bat, and dropped it on the floor. He then lifted his arms above his head, and asked. "Why are you in my house?"

Sara and Warrick glanced at each other. "Is… This is the home of B.J. Johnson?" Sara asked.

"He's my roommate. Why where is he? Has he done something wrong?" The man's eyes continued to dart between them.

Sophia gestured to the couch "I'm Detective Curtis, this is CSI Brown, and CSI Sidle. Why don't you sit down, maybe we can sort this out. Why don't you tell us your name?"

He sat down gingerly, shivering a bit. "Sp…Spencer Bergh." Wrapping is arms around himself, he looked towards Sophia. "What is this about, did B.J. break the law?"

Glancing at Sophia, Sara moved to sit down beside him. "Umm… I'm sorry to have to tell you this, your roommate was found… dead last night. Can you tell us when the last time you saw him was?"

His face blanched at this. "Umm… it was…" he exhaled and scratched his head. " It was two nights ago. We never really keep tabs on each other, and sometimes I don't see him for days."

Sophia and Warrick had walked over, and were standing facing the couch. "Mr. Bergh, we have some questions we need to ask you, and the CSI's here need to search the house." His eye's narrowed, and he opened his mouth to speak, but Sophia jumped in first. "We have a warrant. We have to find out who might have wanted Mr. Johnson dead and there may be something here that will give us an idea of where to look. I'll tell you what, why don't you go get dressed, and we'll go down to the station."

"Do we have to go to the police station? Can't you ask your questions here?" He rubbed his hands up and down his arms.

" Normally that would be fine, but the CSI's have a lot of searching to do, and you may find it more comfortable, and easier to concentrate, if you don't have to watch them going through your things." Again he started to interrupt. Again she cut him off. "They won't remove anything that doesn't pertain to the case, and I'll vouch for the fact that these are two of the neatest CSI's at the lab. You won't even notice they've been here."

He looked between the two CSI's than back to the detective. After a few seconds, he nodded. "I'll just go put on some clothes. It should only take a few minutes." He got up and walked toward a door leading off the kitchen.

After he had left, Sophia looked to Sara and Warrick. "I'll call for a patrol car to come sit outside the house. There probably won't be any problems, but you can never be too careful." She headed toward the door, lifting her walkie as she went.

Sara looked at Warrick, "I'll take the victims bedroom."

"I'll start in here." He said, indicating the room they were standing in.

A few minutes later, Mr. Bergh came back out. He was fully dressed but for his shoes.  
"Is it okay if I use the bathroom? I need to brush my teeth, and my shoes are in there."

"That'll be fine. Detective Curtis will be back in a couple of minutes. She'll appreciate not having to wait." Bergh nodded and turned to head towards the bathroom. Watching him go, Warrick wondered what, if anything, Bergh could tell them. Reminding himself not to jump to conclusions, he turned towards a book shelf that stood against the wall a few feet from the front door.

Sophia came back in just as Bergh was coming out of the bathroom. "You ready to go?" she asked.

"Yeah." He said, and headed towards the door.

Sophia paused at the door, seeing the patrol car pull up across the street. "Patrol car just pulled up." Looking at Warrick she said, "Be careful."

He smiled, "Don't worry, we will be." After she had closed the door, he went back to looking at the book shelf. Turned out it could only be called a book shelf because that was its original purpose. Aside from the pictures on the top two shelves, he seemed to act as a catch all for everything from cigarette lighters to pocket change. It had five shelves, and topped Warrick by a few inches. The top shelf held about fifteen pictures, varying in size. The subject of the photos varied. In a couple of them Bergh was featured with a curly haired blonde. In one was Bergh with a handsome golden retriever. The rest appeared to be shot from around Vegas. Some were just shots of local landmarks; some featured either Bergh, or Johnson standing in front of a landmark. Warrick picked up one that featured Johnson. He was standing in front of the Las Vegas sign. If Warrick had to compare him to anything, he'd have to say he looked like a bat. He had rather large ears, and his dark hair framed his face in such a way, that he reminded him of Dracula. His dark, close set eyes didn't dispel the resemblance. He put the picture back, and was about to check out the next shelf when his phone rang. The display read "Tina". Sighing he flipped it open. "Hey Hon, I'm kinda busy right now, can you call back later?"

"You know Warrick, every time I call you, you're either busy, or at a crime scene or Lord knows what! You were supposed to meet me for breakfast this morning at the hospital, but did you show up? No!" She paused to draw a breath and Warrick jumped in.

"Look Babe, I'm sorry about this morning. We got a big case last night, and I was busy collecting evidence. I'm sorry I didn't call, but sometimes I don't have time to go to the bathroom, let alone pick up the phone." Warrick hoped she bought that. He had completely forgotten about breakfast this morning.

"You know Warrick, I haven't seen you in three days, I don't know how long I can keep this up when I never see you." He heard her sigh on the other end.

"Look… I can't talk about this right now, I'll see you in the morning and we'll talk about it then." This was greeted by silence. He looked at his watch and sighed.

"No Warrick, I can't…" A noise behind Warrick made him turn.

Sara was coming out of the bedroom laughing, and holding up a bright yellow thong. "Hey Rick, come and have a look at this! Oh, I didn't know you were on the phone. Just come in here when you're through." She turned and went back into the bedroom.

Tuning back into the phone call, he heard Tina asking, "Warrick are you even listening? Who was that?"

"It was just Sara, look I'm really busy right now, I'll call you back later." He hung up, feeling only slightly guilty. As he was walking towards the bedroom his phone rang again. Without even looking at the display, he flipped it open. "Listen Babe, I told you, I'm busy right now..." He was interrupted by a chuckle.

"Well Honey, you may want to make time for this" Brass said, "We found Sandy Temple, and I'm going to question her soon. I thought you'd want to join me."

Sighing Warrick replied, "Sorry Jim, I'll be there as soon as I can." He hung up as he walked through the door to find Sara sifting through a drawer full of brightly colored underwear. "That was Brass. They found Sandy Temple and I'm going to go back in to sit in on the interview. I'll call and get someone else out here to help you."

"Don't worry about it. I don't think anything is going to happen." Turning back towards the drawer she lifted up a couple of pairs of underwear. "It looks like Mr. Johnson's choice of underwear was far from conservative. Not one pair of tighty whities in the bunch."

"Some guys like a little adventure, and sometimes the most that you can do is choose outlandish underwear. As to leaving you here alone, uh… no, I don't think so. I learned my lesson a long time ago."

"Okay, if that's how you feel, but go ahead and go, just tell the patrolman to keep a sharp eye on the place until someone shows up." Warrick nodded and headed for the door. "By the way Rick, how do you get YOUR adventure?"

Looking over his shoulder Warrick smiled, "That's for me to know, and if you don't won't your secrets ferreted out, I wouldn't go there." Taking his advice, Sara grinned and went back to going through the dresser.

Warrick left the house dialing as he went. He called Grissom, figuring he would know who was available to replace him. Grissom answered on the second ring and Warrick explained the situation to him. By the time he had finished he was at the patrol car. Grissom told him he would find someone to replace him right away and they hung up. Warrick knocked on the window of the car. "Hey, I have to go to the station, keep a close eye on the house until my replacement from the lab shows up."

"Sure thing." The officer nodded. He watched the CSI head for his car. After the car was out of sight, he looked around. Seeing no one around, he settled down in his seat. After a few minutes his eyes started to drift shut.

A car pulled up to the house and parked. The door opened, and someone got out. Looking towards the patrol car, they noticed that the officer inside was sleeping. Turning, they started walking towards the house. The door opened with barely a creak. Hearing a noise coming from a door to the left, they headed in that direction. When they got to the doorway, all they could see was the nicely shaped derriere of a woman as she poked around under the bed. Smiling they walked over to the bed. The woman was singing to herself. Smiling they reached down.

**To Be Continued…**


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Sorry this chapter is late. I was sick this week and it took me longer to finish it than I thought it would. I actually didn't put all that I wanted to in it, but I think it ended up ok. Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Please review and tell me what you think. 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI, or any of its characters. Everything else is mine.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

The minute he entered the room she sensed him. Pretending not to, she continued to search under the bed, humming along to the song in her head. She felt him standing behind her, knew he was going to try something. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to sneak up on me." She looked over her should grinning.

"Just checking your reflexes." Looking around the room Grissom asked, "Find anything?"

"Not much, but I'm not even halfway through with this room. I should have something by the time I'm finished. Warrick was going to do the living room, but I don't think he got very far. Why don't you start out there, I'll finish in here, and we'll meet in the kitchen?" She looked his way and pursed her lips.

He raised an eyebrow, nodded and left the room. He had something to do before beginning his search.

* * *

Warrick walked into the station, and glanced at his watch. He still didn't feel right about leaving Sara alone with only a patrol car outside, but he knew he had to be there to question Sandy Temple. He ran into Brass as he headed towards the interrogation rooms. "Hey, where'd they find her?"

"Seems she had car trouble just before she hit the California border. Are you ready to talk to her?" He handed Warrick the file folder containing the information they'd gathered already. "I know I want to know why she was in such an all fire hurry to get out of the state. Let's find out what put her in a running state of mind." Brass said as they entered the interrogation room.

* * *

Sophia watched the man sitting at the table through the two-way glass. His hands were clasped together on the table in front of him and he kept unconsciously clinching them together. His eyes roamed the room restlessly, and he didn't seem able to keep still. Picking up the coke that she had gotten from the machine in the break room, she exited the observation room and entered the room next door.

"Sorry it took me so long, I was trying to find us a more comfortable place to talk, but we're a bit busy this week, and it seems like all every room in the building is occupied. You should relax. I only have a few questions about Mr. Johnson, and than you can go. Here, I brought you something to drink." She handed him the coke and took a seat in the chair across from him. Opening her notebook, she pulled a pen out of her breast pocket. Smiling she started the questioning. "Okay, how long had you known Mr. Johnson?

He took a deep breath and exhaled. "About five years, more or less."

He watched as she wrote something down. Man, B.J. always seemed to be getting him in some kind of trouble. It figured his death would be no less troublesome.

The pretty detective looked up and smiled again. He didn't know why, but that smile didn't put him at ease. It was a pretty smile, but whenever she flashed it, it seemed she was just waiting to sink her teeth into him. She was asking another question, and he forced himself to pay attention.

"Were you both from here?" Well that was an easy one.

"No, we've only been here, umm…about three years. We came out because we got jobs in construction, and we thought we could make more money here than back home.

"And home is?"

"We're from Macon, Georgia." He reached for the coke she had brought him, opened it, and took a sip.

"Have you two lived together since getting here?

"Umm… No. Well we started off living together, but than B.J. lost his job, and couldn't pay his part of the rent. We were uh… we were staying with a bunch of other guys, and they pretty much made him leave when someone came along who could pay. After that he moved in with some girl, and I didn't see much of him for about a year. Than one day I ran into him at the grocery store, and by this time I had gotten my own place. The house I live in now. He said he had a steady job, but that he and his girl had just broken up and he was looking for somewhere else to live." He stopped and took a deep breath. He looked at the detective who nodded for him to continue. "Anyway, he's lived with me since then."

"Where is he employed now?"

"Uh…well, he lost his last job about four months ago, and as far as I know, he wasn't working anywhere."

"Was he able to pay his part of the rent?"

"In a word. No. In fact I was about to ask him to find somewhere else to live. I'm his friend, but I can't afford the rent on my own." He reached for the coke, but found that somehow he had already finished it.

"Where would he have gone if you asked him to leave, did he have a girlfriend who could put him up?"

"He did, but she came over last night and packed up all her stuff. I asked what was going on and she said she had broken up with B.J. and she wanted to get her things before he came home."

Looking down at her notes she asked, "How did they get along? Did they argue a lot, or did it come as a surprise that they broke up?

"I pretty much kept to myself, but sometimes I could here them arguing when I was trying to sleep. From what I could hear, most of what they argued over was money."

"What do you mean?" Sophia looked up from taking notes.

"From what I understood from their last argument, she had been giving him money for rent, though I never saw any of it. Apparently he had used the money she had given him for rent, for something else. I don't know where it went, I never saw a dime."

"Do you know his girlfriends name?"

"Janet, Janet Freely."

"Do you know where I can get in touch with Miss Freely?

"Not really, I didn't have much contact with her, but he may have her number in his address book."

"That's fine. We can find her when the time comes. Mr. Bergh, did you ever go to Chanteuse with Mr. Johnson?

"No, I'm sorry, I've never even heard of it. What does it have to do with anything?"

"It's the club that Mr. Johnson was found behind. It would seem that he was a regular there."

"Oh. I'm sorry, but we really didn't hang out together. To tell you the truth, I barely ever saw him. He wasn't a very reliable person. He's made some decisions in the past that I didn't agree with, but you know how it is. You find yourself in need of a roommate, and you let yourself be talked into letting someone who you don't completely trust move in."

"Sure, I understand." Flipping through the notes, found the name she was looking for.  
"Have you ever heard of a Mae Riley?"

At this his eyes widened. "Yes. It's funny you should mention her. I had almost forgotten, but I saw her a few days ago. She was his girlfriend before we came out here."

"Where did you see her?"

"She was at one of the casinos on the strip. Can't remember which one. She looked to be with her sister, and they were walking out of the casino when I saw her. I didn't have time to talk, so I didn't stop her, but I'm sure that it was her.

"Had she been in touch with Mr. Johnson?"

"Not that I know of, at least he never mentioned it, but like I said we never talked much about what was going on in each other's lives. I can tell you, when we first came here, he told Mae that he would send back money for the baby. Oh, she was pregnant when we left, and I always felt bad for her. He really did not treat her right. He told her when we left that he would send money back for her and the baby. As far as I know, he never did. In fact, I remember a couple of months after we got here, he told her during one of their phone conversations that he was sending her a couple hundred dollars to help get ready for the baby. He said he was sending a money order by mail, but he told me later that he didn't actually send it; he just wanted her to think he sent it. He told her it must have gotten lost in the mail. I don't think she bought it though, because my ex girlfriend, she stayed back in Macon when I came here, she said Mae had mentioned it to her, and felt that if the money order had been lost, than he could take the receipt back to where he had bought it, cancel that one, and have another one re-issued. He stopped calling her as much after that." He shook his head at this. "He did mention that when the baby was born, he had to stay in the hospital for a while, and have an operation. He said that Mae had asked if he could come back for a visit, but he told her that he was too busy. I can tell you that at that time he was already out of a job, and had plenty of time to go. She even said she would buy him a bus ticket so he could come see his son, but he didn't want to go. He was having too much of a good time gambling"

"So, he liked to gamble?"

"Oh yeah, I learned later that, that was one of the reasons he lost his job. He just wouldn't show up, went gambling instead. That or he was out singing karaoke. That's his other passion.

"Okay, that's all for now Mr. Bergh, but if you remember anything that might be helpful give me a call." She handed him a card with her name and phone number on it. "If you would write down you numbers down on this," she handed him a sheet of paper. " so if we I have anymore questions, I can reach you. One more thing, would you mind if I took your picture to show to the witness's at the club. It'll help rule you out as a suspect." He jotted down his numbers and handed her back the paper.

"Sure, I don't have anything to hide." She went out of the room and came back a couple of minutes later with a Polaroid camera. He stood up and she snapped his picture. Afterward they both walked towards the door.

"Do you have any idea who killed B.J.?" He asked.

"Not yet, but we've got some of the best investigators on this case, and I have complete trust that they can find out who killed your roommate." He nodded, and she watched as he made his way down the hall. Warrick and Brass came out of the room across the hall.

"Hey, how'd it go with your witness?" She turned to walk with them down the hall.

"Nothing, she clamed up. We're going to let her cool her heels for awhile. She ran for a reason, and we'll find out that reason, sooner or later." Brass asserted.

"Well the roommate gave me some info about the vic, seems he wasn't the most reliable guy around. He left his pregnant girlfriend in Georgia, and seemed to be using his most resent girlfriend as a personal bank. I did learn that the ex was in town as recently as last week. Maybe she's still here." She handed them the picture which had developed. "Here's a picture of Mr. Bergh. You can show it to the employees at the club, see if they recognize him."

Brass took the picture. "I'll take this over there now. It's worth a try anyway." He turned down another hallway, heading out to his car.

Sophia shared the info she had gathered with Warrick. "I'm going to check in with Ms. Freely, see what she can tell us.

"Well, I think I'll head back over to the house and help Sara. When I called Grissom he said that he would get someone over there as quickly as possible, but just in case, I'd feel better if I knew she wasn't alone." Nodding to each other, they each headed in different directions.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI, or any of its characters. The story and all other characters do belong to me, so hands off. ; )

**A/n:** Forgive me if there are any spelling mistakes. My hands are freezing and my fingers don't want to obey me. Also thanks to all who reviewed. You guys make my day. Also, this chapter is one of the reasons for the rating. I don 't think it's too bad, but I erred on the side of caution.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 7**

Warrick pulled up to the house and noticed the patrol officer standing guard beside the front door. Getting out of the car, he walked up to stand in front of him. "Hey, get tired of sitting in the car?"

"No Sir. Just doing my job sir." It looked as if the man barely restrained himself from saluting.

Warrick turned to look toward the drive, and noticed that there was a second SUV sitting there. "I guess Grissom found someone to come out and help Sara. Do you know how long they've been here?"

The officers' eyes shifted away from Warrick. "I'd have to say, well a while sir. I don't know exactly what time he got here. About 2 hour's maybe?"

"How do you not know? You were here weren't you?" Warrick narrowed his eyes at him.

"Yes Sir, but you see, it's like this…umm, see I had a long shift yesterday, and I was in early today, so when I was sitting there waiting, I sort of… drifted off." He still hadn't met Warrick's eyes.

"Are you telling me that even after I told you to make sure to keep a close eye on the place, you fell asleep?" Warrick could barely contain himself. "Man… what if someone came up and went into the house without you knowing?"

The officers' face turned beet red. "Well…actually… someone did, but it wasn't... no one was harmed…" He trailed off as the door behind him opened.

"Officer, we're about to leave. If you would do a circuit around the house, make sure that all entrances are secure, and that no one it hanging around, we'll be ready by the time you're done." Grissom said his hands full of evidence bags.

"Yes Sir!" the officers' face turned even redder than before, and he turned and marched around the side of the house.

Distractedly Warrick watched the officer disappear around the corner. "Gris, I can't believe it! He just told me he fell asleep watching the house. I told him specifically that he was to keep a close eye on it. What time did you get here?"

"No more than fifteen or twenty minutes after you called. Nick and Greg are off today, and Catherine was on another case, so I decided to come out myself. When I got here, he was dozing in the car. First I went in to make sure everything was okay, than I woke Officer Jones and explained to him the consequences of sleeping on the job." They looked up when Sara came out the door.

"Hey Warrick, we're all finished here. You can help go through this stuff when we get to the lab." She smiled at him as they walked towards the SUV.

"Look Sara, I'm so sorry." Warrick put his hand on the shoulder as they walked.

"Sorry for what?" she asked, looking at him quizzically.

"Uh…umm…" He looked to Grissom for help.

Grissom jumped in with the save. "He's just sorry that he couldn't stay and help."

Sara shrugged. "When you have to question a suspect, you have to. I'll tell you what, next time, I'll relax in the interrogation room and you can do the collecting." She smiled and walked ahead of the guys to put the bags in the SUV.

Warrick looked at Grissom. "You didn't tell her?"

"No. I handled it." And he too walked up to the car. Leaving Warrick to look after him, he could only think, _how odd._

* * *

Doc. Robins was bending over the body on the table in front of him, sewing up the "Y" incision. Warrick walked in as he was pulling the sheet up to cover his face. "Ah Warrick, you're just in time. I just finished with Mr. Johnson here."

"What can you tell me Doc ?" Warrick crossed his arms, and waited.

"Not much else to say about cause of death, but I did find evidence that he had had anal sex within hours of his death. There was semen in the anal canal and of course some abrasions. I sent a sample to DNA. Other than that, his last meal consisted of, ah…"He flipped through the file, "His last meal was a cheeseburger and fries, he'd eaten about 4 hours before death. Tox report came back clean, not even aspirin in his system. Aside from the fact that he's dead, he's a perfectly healthy man."

"Was there anything else, anything at all?" Warrick was sure there had to be something else.

"He had three circular contusions on his neck, they appear to be hickeys. I swabbed them for saliva, and he had abrasions on his penis and traces of lubricant. The way I see it is this. Either he ate dinner, had sex with a man, than was killed, or the sex came first, than he ate, than was killed. It depends on the analysis of the sperm. I can tell you the sex was consentual, no matter when it happened." Doc pulled the gloves off his hands and picked up his crutches. "He's told all he's going to."

"Thanks Doc. I guess I'll head over to trace, see if Hodges as analyzed that trace from his fingers yet." He threw Doc a small salute and turned and left the room.

* * *

Sara sat going through the boxes of evidence taken from the vic's house. Picking up his address book, she flipped through it. Not much was written in it. Under the J's was the name Janet, and a phone number. Under R was the name Mae, she figured that must mean Mae Riley. There were a few numbers that had been scratched out. She'd take the book over to QD to get those checked out. The only other numbers seemed to be for restaurants. Lot's of pizza places. She flipped to the very back and discovered something written on the inside cover. _MM—gbgeeihf_ , and something under that, that had been scratched out. Well, she couldn't make anything of that. It looked like a code of some kind. She wasn't much good at codes, but she knew someone who was. She picked up her phone and dialed. "Where are you?" she asked without preamble.

Grissom couldn't suppress a grin. "I'm in my office. Where are you?" His voice sounded low and gravelly.

A tingle ran down Sara's spine. What that mans voice could do to her! She lowered her voice to a purr. "You know you're not supposed to use that tone at work. I'm currently on my way to your office. I need to get your opinion on something. You'd better behave when I get there."

"You're no fun. Okay, I'll act respectable, but you can't control my thoughts. Just know that the entire time I'm helping you, I'm be remembering last night…and this morning, and looking very much forward to getting you home in…" he checked his watch. "In just over two hours."

Sara stopped in his doorway, "You fiend!" She closed her phone. "Just for that, you should know, I'm going to be thinking of last weekend, and I might just have to work late today." She walked up and sat in front of his desk, placing the address book in front of him.

His eyebrows shot up. "You mean the thing… with the other… and the…You wouldn't!"

"Hmm, where do I start? Let's see, what was the first thing we did when we got to the B&B? Did we explore Boulder City? Tell me, what do you remember us doing?" She couldn't keep the smirk from her face. Two could play this game, and she liked to win. She watched as his mind drifted back, and a smile appeared on his face.

Suddenly a noise sounded from behind her. She turned to find Catherine in the door way. "Hey, what's up with Grissom?" Sara turned back around and bit back a smile.

When she turned back her face was impassive. "I don't know, I asked him if he could decipher this code." she pointed to the book she had put on his desk. 'Then he suddenly got this, I don't know… dreamy look on his face, and sort of drifted away. You know, I don't think I'll ever understand Grissom." She was amazed at how unaffected she sounded.

Catherine leaned over and snapped her fingers in from of Grissom's face. He hadn't moved once since she'd come into the room. "Hey Bugman, snap out of it!" Grissom jerked and his eyes refocused. Blinking he looked from Catherine to Sara. "What was it about this code that made you drift off to dreamland?" She gestured to the book in front of him.

He looked down at the book, reading the code. He was silent for a long time. Finally he looked up and said, "It's a phone number. The code is simple. The first two letters stand for the person's name, and the letters, and asterisks stand for numbers. It's a ten letter code, so the area code is included. It's most likely a local number, so the area code is probably 702. By that, we know that the asterisk stands for zero. So the number is 702-755-9086. And I wasn't in dreamland, I was thinking. Now, did you need something?"

"Umm Yeah, I just wanted you to take a look at this surveillance video with me and Archie. We need a fresh pair of eyes." She looked at him with eyebrows raised.

"I'll be there in a minute." She nodded and left. He looked at Sara. "Are you happy with yourself?"

"Me! You started it!" They stared at each other a few minutes. Finally she relented. "I'm sorry if I caused you any…umm discomfort." She paused for a minute. "Were you serious about the code? Is it a phone number?"

He smiled. "Most likely, but I can't guarantee the part about it being local. Truth is, it could be a number for anywhere in the U.S., but I thank I did very well… considering."

Sara giggled. "Well it's a start anyway." She got up and turned towards the door. "You want to walk out together?"

"No you go on ahead; I need to sit here for a while before I join Catherine." His face turned a deep shade of red. Anyone who knew Grissom would be surprised. He didn't embarrass easily. Sara couldn't help it and burst out laughing. Grissom arched his eyebrow. "You just wait until we get home, than we'll see whose laughing. Now go, you're too distracting."

Sara nodded and still laughing headed back to the layout room. She didn't think she'd be working late after all.

* * *

**A/n 2:** If that is a real phone number, I'm sorry. I just picked abunch of numbers out of my head. Please read and review.

* * *

Return to Top 


	8. Chapter 8

**A/n:** I know that this chapter is heavy on info, and light on banter, but I had to get all this out there. Next chapter should have more interaction. Please read and review, and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. You guys make me so happy. Also, let me know how I did on Hodges. I think I have him in character, but please give me your opinions. 

**Disclaimer:** I do not own them , but I love borrowing them. Everyone else is mine.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 8**

Warrick strolled into the Trace lab, looking for Hodges. No one was in the lab. There was a sheaf of papers sitting on the paper tray of the printer. Looking around, he decided that his results were probably in those papers, and he didn't really have time to wait for Hodges to come back from wherever he had gotten to. He walked over and reached his hand into the tray.

"Your hand wasn't about to violate the sanctity of my printer tray, was it Warrick?" Hodges said standing in the doorway.

Warrick whorled around. "Hey man, just looking to see if my results were in this backlog you've got sitting here. Don't you ever clear off your printer?"

Hodges reached over and grabbed the papers from the tray. "Your results are not in these, and I'm not backlogged." He walked over to a file sitting on the side of his desk. "If you're looking for the results on the black trace found on the tip of your vics fingers, here it is." He handed Warrick a printout. He read, _Deionized water, Pvp/Eicosene, Beeswax, Iron Oxides, Polyvinyl Pyrolidone (PVP), Caruauba Wax, Myristyl Lactate, Glyceryl Caprate, Cetyl Dimethicone, Glucose, Glucose Oxidase, Latoperoxidase, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Neem Seed Oil, Tocopherol Acetate, Magnesium Silicate, Panthenol, Silk Amino Acids, Zinc Oxides._

Warrick sighed. "Mascara?"

Hodges smiled in approval. 'Very good. Now as to your other samples, I haven't gotten to them yet." He picked up the sheaf of papers he'd taken from the printer. "These were dropped on me by Henry from day shift. He goes down with appendicitis, and his load gets dumped on me." He dropped the papers back on the desk, and headed back over to the work table. He slipped on a pair of gloves, and picked up a bindle from the tray. Looking over his shoulder he raised an eyebrow. "Now run along and get to work, I'll page you when I have your results." He turned back to the counter and proceeded to ignore Warrick. Shaking his head, Warrick left him to his work.

* * *

Brass hung up the phone, rubbing his temple. He was having trouble tracking down the ex-girlfriend. He looked up as Sophia walked into his office, carrying a file. "Hey, have any luck with that picture?"

Leaning back in his chair, he shook his head. "Looks like he was telling us the truth, no one there recognized him. I'm going to show it to Ms. Temple, but I'm not really expecting cooperation. Did you find Ms. Freely?"

Taking a seat in the chair in front of the desk, she crossed her legs. "Yeah, she's coming down with-in the hour. I didn't tell her what it was about, just told her it had something to do with her boyfriend. She let me know right away that he was no longer her boyfriend, and so she probably wouldn't be able to help us. I convinced her that it would be worth her wile."

"Well, I haven't been able to find the Ex. I don't have to tell you that this town in lousy with hotels, and I haven't had any luck. I'll get a uniform to check the hotels I haven't checked, it may take the better part of the day, and I was hoping to get off on time today."

They looked up at a knock at the door. Seeing it was Warrick, he gestured for him to come in. Brass sat up and asked. "What you know that's new?"

"Not much. The trace on the vic's fingers was mascara. Could mean something, could mean nothing. Hodges is just getting started on the other samples." He moved to sit in the other chair. "How's it going with you guys?"

They filled him in on what they had found out. "Okay, what next? When does the girlfriend get here?"

"It shouldn't be too long." Sophia was interrupted just than by a knock at the door. A receptionist poked her head in. "Detective Curtis, there's a lady here to see you; she said you called her about her ex-boyfriend."

"Thank you Cathy, show her to interview room two, and get her something to drink. I'll be there in a minute." Nodding Cathy left.

Looking at Warrick, she stood up. "Well, do you want to join me?"

"Sure, I don't really have anything to do right now. How 'bout you Jim?" He raised an eyebrow in Brass's direction.

"Let me get someone on this hotel search, than I think I'll listen in from the observation room. We don't want to overwhelm the girl." They all exited the room.

* * *

Sophia opened the door and preceded Warrick into the room. "Hello Ms. Freely, thank you for coming down. This is Warrick Brown, with the crime lab, and as I said on the phone, I'm Detective Curtis. We'll try to get through this as quickly as possible. I see Cathy has gotten you a coke, is that okay, or would you like something else?"

Janet Freely looked up and shook her head. "No…" she cleared her throat and tried again. "No thank you. This is fine." Her arms were wrapped around her as if she were cold. Sophia noticed that it was a bit chilly in the room.

"You know it is a bit cold in here, wait one minute and I'll see if I can do something about that." She left and Warrick smiled at Janet and sat down in a chair opposite her.

He smiled at her, trying to put her at ease. "This won't take long Ms. Freely, then you can be on your way." He looked up as Sophia came back in.

"It should be warmer in here in a few minutes." She sat in the chair next to Warrick. She sat her file down in front of her. "Okay, we just have a few questions for you. We'll start when you're ready." Janet took a sip of her coke and nodded.

"Fine…" Turning to a blank page in her notebook she started. " When was the last time you saw Mr. Johnson?

"Umm… Tuesday afternoon. He came by where I work and wanted to borrow some money. He said he owed someone, and it was very important that he pay him back soon." She clasped her hands together, and crossed her legs.

"Did you give him the money?" Sophia asked.

"No. He already owes me a lot, and I really didn't have the money to give him this time. He got really upset and said if he didn't pay this man, he would be in deep trouble. I told him that I couldn't help that, and that maybe he should ask his roommate."

"Do you know if he got the money?" Sophia looked up from her notes.

"I… I don't really know. Look, what kind of trouble is he in? Did he try to steal the money?" She looked from Sophia to Warrick.

Sophia looked at Warrick. He looked over to Janet. "As far as we know Ms. Freely, he hasn't stolen anything. We just need to know what you talked about when you met on Tuesday.

"Well, we got into a huge argument and I told him I couldn't take it anymore, and I… I broke up with him. It was all very emotional. I keep telling myself that he wasn't worth my tears, but I cried anyway. There I was, my co-workers all around, and I couldn't stop crying." She sniffled and blinked her eyes. "Look, even talking about it is making me cry."

Sophia handed her a tissue to dry her eyes. As she did her mascara come off on the tissue. Warrick looked at Sophia, than at Janet. "Ms. Freely, when you were crying, did Mr. Johnson touch you?

She wrinkled her nose. "I'm sorry? What do you mean?

"When you were crying, did he touch your face?" He elaborated.

She sniffled, thinking back. "Um… yeah. I guess he was trying to change my mind or something, and he reached over and ran is thumbs under my eyes, drying my tears." She was silent for a minute, studying the coke can. "But I stood firm. I told him that he was bad for me, and that I couldn't be with him anymore."

Sophia flipped a page back in her notebook, and looked up. "Getting back to the money he owed. Do you know the name of the guy who lent it to him?"

Taking a deep breath, and exhaling, she shook her head. "All he ever said, was he owed Jimmy. He never mentioned a last name."

"Okay Ms. Freely, are you sure that, that was the last time you saw him." Sophia asked.

"Positive. I even went to get my things from his house when I knew he would be out. I knew that if I saw him…. Well, you see… I still love him. I know he's not good for me, and that I'm better off without him, but given the chance, he could talk me into coming back to him." She crossed her arms, rubbing her hands up and down her sleeves.

"Ms. Freely, umm… How did you know that he wouldn't be home?" Sophia quizzed.

She ducked her head, and her cheeks turned a deep shade of red. "I thought, well… I thought he was cheating on me. So one night… I followed him. He went to this… this strip club. I sat in my car until he left, and went in. I showed a picture to the bartender. He said that B.J. came in a couple of times a week. After that I kept track of how often he was going. It was a lot. Anyway, I knew that he would be there on Tuesday night. I took my chance, and picked up my things then. I just… I just didn't want to see him again.

Sophia and Warrick looked at each other, each wondering how to break the news. Finally Warrick turned to her and said. "Ms. Freely, Mr. Johnson is dead. He was murdered.

Janet stared at him. Her eyes wide. She sucked her lip between her teeth and started chewing on it. She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Well, I guess I won't be getting back the money he owed me. Are you sure it's B.J.? Can I see him?"

"Ma'am I don't think that would be a good idea." Warrick tried to sound conciliatory.

"Who identified him? Maybe they made a mistake." She said, sounding hopeful.

Warrick scratched his head, they hadn't gotten anyone to identify the body, they had the license for comparison, and were fairly sure that they had the right guy, but maybe they should get Ms. Feely to corroborate the identification. "I'll call down and have the morgue get him ready for you to Id. We're positive it's him, but if you'll feel more comfortable Iding him yourself, and it'll help you get some closure, well, there shouldn't be a problem with that."

"Thank you, I would really appreciate it." She looked between them, tears in her eyes.

"Just wait here. I'll call down when their ready." He got up and left.

In the hall he took out his phone, and called the morgue. "Hey Doc, could you prepare B.J. Johnson for an Id?"

"Sure, but I thought we already had an Id."

"We do, but you can never be too sure, and it might help his girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend start the healing process. She seems to be in denial." He closed his phone, and turned to head back to the room. He glanced at his watch, and saw that he should have left an hour ago. Brass came out of the door next door.

"Hey, Sandy Temple is ready to talk, and I have an idea about what to ask her. You want to join me?" Brass sounded positively giddy.

"Who could resist such an offer, I'll meet you…" He trailed off realizing he didn't know were to meet him.

"She'll be ready in 10 minutes, in interrogation room three." Brass helpfully informed him.

"Okay, I'll meet you there. I'll get Sophia to escort Ms. Freely." He headed back into the interview room, sighing, it would be awhile before he could go home. Tina was going to be pissed.

* * *

**TBC…**

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI, or any of its characters, but Christmas is only a few days away, so you never know. What's that you say, Santa dosen't have that much power? Well maybe so, but the story and everyone else is mine. So there! 

**A/n:** This story has turned out to be a little more Warrickcentric than I had planned, but you have to follow the story, even if you're the one writing it. So I hope all you Warrick fans are enjoying it. Also, I know this chapter is kind of short, but I'm working on a Christmas fic, and didn't have time to write more on this one. Please read and let me know what you think so far. And thanks to Odeepblue and everyone else who has reviewed. Your reviews make my day.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

Warrick arrived at the interrogation room with five minutes to spare. Not sure if Brass was in there yet, he decided to look through the glass in the viewing room. After ascertaining that Brass hadn't yet arrived, he made himself comfortable on a bench outside the room. He could no longer put off the inevitable. He took out his phone and called Tina. He didn't really want to have to listen to her harping, but it would be worse if he didn't call and tell her that he wouldn't be able to meet her this morning. At least this way, she couldn't say that he didn't warn her. On the fourth ring she picked up. "Hey babe, I'm sorry but I'm not going to be able to meet you for breakfast. Now before you say any…."

"It's okay." She cut him off sounding breathless. "Something umm… came up, and I wasn't going to be able to meet you anyway. I'll catch up with you tonight." There was some mumbling in the back ground. He could tell that she was muffling the phone. Finally she came back on. "Honey I have to go. I'll call you later." Than she was gone. He sat there looking at the phone. Was she alone, or was someone with her? Since when did she not mind when he wasn't able to meet her when they planned? Usually she would have kept him on the phone for an hour, bringing up all the times he'd had to cancel. Asking why she'd never met his co-workers. Before he could ponder this more seriously, Brass walked up.

"You ready?" Brass asked, putting his hand on the door handle. Warrick nodded and followed Brass through the door.

* * *

"Ms. Temple if you're ready to talk to us, this is your chance." Brass said as he seated himself across from her. "We'll start with an easy question. Why did you run?"

Sandy sat with her hands clasped together in her lap. Her eyes were locked on her hands, watching her red painted thumb nails circle each other. Finally she looked up and sighed. "I lied before. I recognized the first man that talked to Mr. Johnson. He comes in on a pretty regular basis. He's bad news. I didn't want to be the one to tell you guys who he was. You gotta believe that I feared for my life."

"I take it that you're now ready to tell us a name, or did you just call us down here for the fun of it?" Brass did not sound sympathetic.

"I was hoping I'd get some kind of guarantee that, you know, I'd be protected. If I give you a name, it's as good as signing my death warrant." She leaned her elbows on the table, and stared at them.

"What if I could make it so you didn't actually have to give us the name?" Brass offered. "All you would have to do is nod, or not, depending on the name."

She considered this. Shaking her head she asked. "And if the name you give isn't the person I'm talking about? You'll still expect me to give you a name.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. So, if you're ready?" Nodding his head, he indicated that she should ready herself. "Is the name of the man you saw with B.J. Johnson on Tuesday night, at Club Chanteuse, James Nelson?" At this her eyes widened and she stared at Brass for a few moments. Finally she nodded. "Now, that wasn't so tough was it? Now you can honestly say that you didn't give up his name. There's just one more thing that we need to know. Did you lie about anything else? Like for instance, what the two of them talked about."

"I swear I didn't overhear much. Just something about Mr. Johnson owing him some money. I didn't lie. I didn't want to know too much about their conversation." She twisted in her chair, looking from Brass to Warrick. "I don't know anything else. I promise. Can I go home now?

Brass looked towards Warrick, the look on his face incredulous. Warrick turned to Mr. Temple and cleared his throat. "Ma'am, you're still under arrest for obstruction. You put the tax payers to a lot of expense to find you. You'll need to be held accountable for that. For now, we have what we need." Warrick nodded to the uniform to escort her back to her cell.

"Don't worry; if we have anymore questions, we know where to find you." Brass cracked as she was led out.

Shaking his head, Warrick grinned. "How did you know who the guy was?"

Brass grinned. "An educated guess. When Ms. Freely said that Johnson owed someone money I knew we were probably looking for a loan shark. Put together with the earlier description of the man that met with Johnson... well it jogged my memory. Nelson works that part of town, and he's bad news. If Johnson got involved with him, he was in a shit load of trouble."

Warrick shook his head. "Well it was a guess that panned out. Good thing Grissom wasn't here. You know how he feels about guessing."

"If he had been here, I would have made up a better excuse for how I came up with the name." Brass opened the door and they walked out.

Sighing Warrick said, "Good idea. Well if you don't mind, I think I'll head on home. This day has been a long one."

"You go on. I'm going to put out the order to bring Nelson in for questioning. Than I'm going to go home myself. Maybe by the time I get in tonight, I'll have a loan shark to tangle with." The two men parted in the hall. Visions of a few hours of sleep dancing in their heads.

* * *

Sara lay with her head resting on Grissom's chest, and her leg nestled between his. She was twirling her fingers through his chest hair. He was stroking her hair with one hand, and had the other under his head lying on the pillow. He seemed to be a million miles away. She was worried. It seemed that something was bothering him lately, and he wasn't sharing it with her. She didn't want to push, all she could do was be there for him when he needed her, and give him his space when he needed that. Wanting to take his mind off of what she thought might be bothering him at the moment; she kissed him on the chin, and rubbed her foot up and down his hairy leg. She loved lying cuddled next to his big, warm body, loved how he made her feel so delicate, which wasn't easy for someone her height. He looked down at her, and smiled.

"Ms. Sidle, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were trying to cripple me. I'm an old man, by body isn't used to all this activity. You know the elderly need their sleep." He smiled as he looked down at her.

She stretched her arm across him, and tucked it under him, hugging him tightly. "Old shmold! Baby, there are only two things that matter. That you make me deliriously happy…" She trailed her fingers up his chest and finished up with them resting on his face. She traced her fingers lightly over his face, starting with running her forefinger over his brow, and her thumb down his nose, ending with her fingers tracing his lips. "And that you are happy. Not just with our life together, but with all aspects of your life, and I want you to know that I'll be there for you, no matter what decisions you make.

He was silent for a long moment, just looking at her, running his fingers through her hair. Finally he moved, pulling her over on top of him. "Well what do you know; sleep suddenly doesn't seem so important." Smiling he flipped over so he was on top. "Ahh, and it's seems like I'm up for a little activity after all." For the time being, he was free of worries.

**TBC…**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** No I didn't get them for Christmas. So, CSI and all characters contained therein still don't belong to me. The story and all other characters DO, so keep your mitts off. 

**A/n:** It seems like it took me forever to write this chapter, but looking at it, it seems kind of short. Please read and review. Let me know if I'm sticking to their characters. Sometimes, which I'm sure some of you know, it's hard to keep track of their in-characterness. (I don't think that's a word, but I'm adding it to my dictionary, so now it is.) Also, thinks to everyone who has reviewed. It makes my day.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

Brass threw down a tip and hurriedly exited the diner. Gulping down the contents of his coffee cup, he got into his car. This had better be worth it. He liked to take his time in the evenings, eating his dinner/breakfast at his own leisure. Now, here he was rushing around, having sped through his steak and eggs. He'd also only downed one cup of coffee before he got the call that James Nelson had been brought in. Now, as he pulled his car into the early evening traffic, he pulled out his cell phone. He'd be damned if he was the only one to have his evening ruined. He put the phone in the hands free cradle, and selected the name Brown from his contacts list. After three rings, the phone was picked up with a terse, "What is it?" Sensing that Warrick wasn't in the best of moods, he didn't lead off with the opening gambit he had planned. Somehow he didn't think he'd get a reasonable answer to "Get to the station." Instead, he simply asked, " Hey 'Rick, you want to join me in questioning a real life, as near to the mob you'll probably get in your life, bad guy?"

Warrick looked across the table at Tina. She had rudely awakened him to have a long overdue chat, and she didn't look appreciative of the interruption. Eying Tina, who looked as if, if the next words out of his mouth were anything other than "no", she'd get up right than and pack her bags, he sighed and tuned Brass in and tried to answer as levelly as possible. "I'm sorry man, now's not a good time. How 'bout I give Sara a call and get her to join you? She doesn't usually mind the overtime."

Placated by the knowledge that at least someone would maybe be put out as much as he was, Brass agreed.

Warrick said his goodbyes, than hung up. "Honey, I'll be with you in a moment, just let me call Sara. Someone needs to be with Brass when he questions this character, and I know we need to have this discussion." Flipping his phone back open, he dialed Sara's cell.

The sound of her ring tone brought Sara up from a deep sleep. Reaching out to the bedside table she picked up her phone. From behind her, Grissom turned over and snuggled up to her back, putting his arm around her. Sara flipped open the phone without looking at the display. Sleepily she asked, "Hello?"

Warrick heard the sleep in her voice, and truly felt bad about having to call so early. "Hey Sar, I was hoping you were awake, because; well I have a favor to ask you. They brought in that loan shark that Mr. Johnson met with the night he died. I don't know if you heard about that, but someone from CSI needs to be with Brass when he questions him. Needless to say, he may have some information about Johnson, and well… I would go in a second but…," At this he turned and lowered his voice so that Tina couldn't hear him. "Tina insists that we have a long overdue talk, and there's no way I can get out of it. So, I was wondering…"

Sara smiled sleepily and finished the question for him. "You were wondering if I could possibly attend the interview in your place." She shifted to sit up and this caused Grissom to mumble in his sleep and adjust himself so that he was basically wrapped around her with a leg thrown over her legs, and his head resting just below her pillow. His arm rested in her lap, his hand curling around her waist. She smiled at how possessive he became in his sleep. Who would have thought it of Gil Grissom?

She tuned back into the call when she heard Warrick calling, "Sara? Sara, are you still there?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm here. What time is it anyway?" This question was rhetorical, as she looked over at the clock as she said it. "Five PM? No wonder I still feel so tired. What time does Brass need me there?" She idly ran her hand up and down Grissom arm as she spoke. His arm tightened at the stimulus, and he moaned. She quickly removed her hand. She didn't think they had time for where this could lead. She listened as Warrick told her that Brass was already on his way to the station, so she didn't have long at all before she had to leave. She heard Grissom's breathing change, and realized that he was waking up. Deciding that it was best to get Warrick off the phone as soon as possible, she agreed to attend the questioning. "But you owe me one Brown. Don't think that I'm going to forget this." Grissom leaned up into a position where his head was level with her shoulder. He kissed her shoulder and she ended the call as quickly as she could, with Warrick promising her that she wouldn't regret this.

Grissom pulled her down and sought her mouth. The kiss lasted longer than was good for her getting out of the house on time, and when he lifted his mouth and nuzzled her neck, she was tempted to go with it and let everything else be damned. But her professional streak wouldn't let her do it. Mumbling about already regretting it, she pushed Grissom so that he was lying on his side of the bed. "Huh? What'd you say?" Grissom asked his voice thickened by sleep and desire, his arms reaching for her as she slid to the edge of the bed.

"I said I'm already regretting this. That was Warrick; he needs me to go in early to sit in on an interview with a possible suspect in our strip club homicide." Gathering her robe from the end of the bed, she headed to the bathroom. Turning in the door she looked back at him, "We'll continue this in the morning. Now, go back to sleep. I'll see you later." Than she turned and headed for the shower. Yes indeed, Warrick owed her Big Time.

* * *

Brass was waiting outside the interrogation room when Sara showed up about thirty minutes later. Warrick had called and said that she was coming in, but that she would probably be in a terrible mood. As a conciliatory gesture, he had a cup of coffee waiting for her. Surprisingly though, she looked to be in an upbeat mood, smiling and singing to herself. He greeted her and handed her the cup of coffee. 

"Thanks, this will just hit the spot; I didn't have time to grab any before I left home." She took a sip and quirked one eyebrow in a questioning look. His looked to be unsure of something. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Well, it's just that when Warrick called, he said you probably wouldn't be in a great mood." He considered her and saw that she was the opposite of that assessment. "What gives?"

She smiled a satisfied smile and simply answered, "It's amazing what I quick shower can do for your disposition." With that she turned and opened the door to the interrogation room. Bemused, he followed her in.

* * *

Grissom walked into the station a few minutes behind Sara, he had in his hand a bag of muffins. He knew that she would be hungry, having not had time to grab anything before she left. After he had joined her in the shower, he hadn't felt like going back to sleep, and he knew that she would be hungry when she was through with the interview. He still had a couple of hours before he had to be at work, so he decided to watch the interview from the observation room and catch up with her when she was done. Settling down, he took out one of the muffins and listened to what was being said in the next room. 

"…So, what you're saying Mr. Nelson, is that you didn't know B.J. Johnson. Am I hearing you right?" Brass was asking. He was seated across from James Nelsen, a man in his mid forties; he had closely cut dark hair, liberally peppered with grey. He was a man who projected an aura of danger, and if you didn't know what he did for a living, you would still feel uneasy in his presence. A handsome man, it wasn't often that he was without the companionship of a beautiful woman, whether it be his wife, or one of the many woman who swarmed around him. Brass pressed harder, "You never had any business with this man?" He pushed the autopsy photo over so that he could see it.

"That's what I'm saying, yeah. I've never done business with this man." Looking at the photo he smiled. "Doesn't look like he's doing much of anything, except maybe getting colder." He looked over to Sara, who was sitting next to Brass taking notes. Smirking he looked her up and down. "You know, if you ever want a job that actually pays, and has all the uh… benefits, I could always use a good secretary."

Sara looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. That however was the only indication she gave that she had heard him. Instead she looked through her notes and said. "Mr. Nelsen, the victim… had had anal intercourse shortly before his death. If your relationship wasn't business related, maybe you could tell us about any personal relationship you had with him."

"Now hold on, my business with Johnson was just that! If he was being diddled, it wasn't by me." Nelsen protested.

"Oh, so now you're admitting that you had business with the victim? Brass smirked.

Sighing, Nelsen looked down. Finally he lifted his head, "Look okay, I… loaned this guy some money, and he was late paying me back, but I wouldn't kill him. That's no way to recover my investment."

Brass considered him. He could be telling the truth. "Let's say I believe you. Give be something that might help me. Surely you noticed something about him. Was he ever with anyone when you met? Did he ever talk about anyone?"

Shaking his head, he rolled his eyes. "He mentioned his girlfriend. He said that she had refused to give him the money to pay me back with. I asked the dumb ass, "If she wouldn't give you the money in the first place, what made you think she'd give it to you now?" Some guys aren't too smart."

Sara spoke up. "How much money did he owe you?

"He was into me for 30k. Said he had a sure thing, he'd be able to pay me back in a couple of months. That's exactly the type of guy I like to lend to. If they actually do have a sure thing, I get my money back, plus interest. If not… well I always get my money back... plus interest." He slouched back in his chair.

Brass leaned forward and dropped a notebook in front of him. "Not this time. Write down everything he ever told you, and don't skimp on the details." He gestured for Sara and they got up and left the room.

"So, what do you think? Did he have anything to do with Johnson's murder?" Brass asked after he closed the door.

"You know as well as I do Jim, there's not one single piece of evidence that points to him. It's not against the law to loan people money, if it were, than the casinos would be out of business. As long as he didn't use physical force, and there's no evidence that he did, there's also nothing wrong with pursuing the person you loaned money to, to get your money back." Sara sat down on a bench in the hall, trying to ignore her rumbling stomach. "He's right, killing Johnson doesn't get him his money back."

"Yeah, I just don't like this guy. The breaking of the law comes with the amount of interest he extorts from his "clients"." Brass sighed and paced in front of her. "Of course we won't find any evidence of that, and without probable cause, we can't get a warrant to search his books. I don't know, maybe he can give us something that will lead us somewhere, and through that, maybe something will lead back to him." Turning back to the door he said, "Why don't you go get something to eat, I'll let you know if he gives us anything we can use." He headed back in to talk to Nelsen. Just as he closed the door behind him, the door to the observation room opened. Grissom motioned for her to follow him in. Smiling she entered the room.

"Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you'd be back home, snug in our bed." He held up the bag of muffins to her and laughed when she grabbed for it.

"What made you think I could go back to sleep after our shower?" Switching topics, he motioned towards the other room. "What's his story?"

"At the very least he's a loan shark who loaned our vic a substantial amount of money. At most, who knows what he's into? It's possible that he killed our guy, but I don't know, the manner of death doesn't seem like something he'd do. Plus there's not one shred of evidence that points to him being the killer." She said all this around a mouthful of muffin. She was wishing she hadn't finished her coffee. Possibly reading her mind, Grissom reached behind him and picked up a cup of coffee he'd stepped out to get a few minutes ago. She grinned at him. "Is it any wonder that I love you?

"And here I was thinking this entire time that it was my charm and good looks that attracted you." He said dryly. "And it turns out to be my ability to feed you and keep you caffeinated.

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Honey, it's everything."

* * *

When Warrick walked into the Lab that night, he felt like he'd already been working a double shift. The first thing he wanted to do was find Sara, and find out what James Nelsen had, had to say. He found her in the layout room going over a bag of evidence from the vic's apartment. "Hey, so what'd you find out?" She filled him in on what they'd learned, and went on to explain that she was looking for anything that could tell them where they could find Mae and Sally Riley. 

"So far, I've got nothing. The number for Mae Riley in the address book was scratched out, and it's still in QD. I'm going to take a walk down there in a while to see if they have anything yet. Turned out Grissom was right about the code in the back of the book, but the number has been disconnected. It's going to take a little longer, but we'll find out who owned the number before it was disconnected." She sighed tiredly and tried to suppress a yawn. "S-sorry, I didn't get much sleep." She teased him.

"I am sorry about that Sara. How 'bout I buy you lunch. I'll get you one of those veggie burgers that you like so much." He grinned at her and really, who could resist that.

"You know, that's the…second best offer I've had all day. I'll take you up on it. But, you have to have one to." She laughed at the look on his face.

"Ah, come on Sara. Those things can't fill up a man. I need meat." He stared at her in disbelief.

"Oh sure, I forgot. The eating of anything that doesn't contain animal isn't a real meal when it comes to you men." She shook her head and let him off the hook. "Okay, how about this, you can have fish, but no red meat. You'll eat a nice healthy lunch, and I'm sure Tina will thank me for that. That is if I ever get to meet her." She looked at him, a question in her eyes.

"You guys will get to meet her one day. We're just having a few problems that I want to get ironed out before I introduce her." Changing the subject he said. "I think I'll head over to trace, see if Hodges has anything for me yet." As he headed out the door he called. "I'll see you around two for that lunch." Shaking her head she went back to going through the evidence.

* * *

Hodges was looking through a microscope when he walked in. Trays were piled everywhere, each tray containing several bindles. For the first time that he could remember, Hodges looked… disheveled. He was muttering to himself, and Warrick only caught the occasional word, such as… _kill, bastard, and splenectomy_. He hesitated to interrupt him, but he needed to find out if he had the results on his case yet. Knocking on the door jamb, he called. "Hey man, you look really backed up, why don't you ask Eckley for some help?" 

Hodges straightened. "I don't need any help, I've got everything covered."He snaped. He turned and dug through a pile of papers on his desk. "I believe you're here for these. So, take them and go; I'm busy." And he turned back to examining something in the microscope. Warrick looked down at his results. The first one was for the trace found in the wound tract of in the throat. "There were epithelials in the wound tract? Did you get any DNA?"

Hodges looked up. "Does this look like a DNA lab? I kicked them over to Wendy." Then he went back to the microscope. Sighing he looked back up. "There was some trace along with the epithelials. It's further down on the sheet. Warrick looked down and read. _Ethyl acetate, butyl acetate, nitrocellulose, isopropyl alcohol, polyester resin, dibutyl phthalate, styrene/acrylates copolymer, stearalkonium hectorite, stearalkonium bentonite, benzophenone-1, calcium pantothenate, D&C red #7 and #34, Mica and aluminum powder._

"Huh, red nail polish, interesting." Turning to the next page he saw that the gem that was found in the genital wound tract was made of glass, commonly used as decoration. He looked up to thank Hodges, only to find the man searching the table around the microscope. Hazarding a guess, he figured he was searching for his pencil. "Hodges, If you're looking for your pencil, it's behind your ear." He said, gesturing toward his general vicinity.

"I knew where that was; it's not what I was looking for. Now if you're finished with me, I've got to get back to work." And he turned back to the microscope. As Warrick exited the room, he looked back to see him take the pencil from behind his ear. Shaking his head, he headed over to see Wendy, an idea forming in his head.

**TBC…**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** It's a new year, and I still don't own CSI, or any of its characters. Everything else is mine. 

**A/n:** First let me say that I am by no means a forensic expert, so forgive me if I get something slightly wrong, but after some research, and after watching the show for six and a half years, I think I got the forensic stuff in this right. Let me know if it sounds right to you. Also, I know this chapter seems short on info, but the next chapter should have more case info. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, you make my day. I want to thank all the folk over at the GSR board, if it weren't for you guys, I would never have thought of writing fanfiction, So Thank You.

**Chapter 11**

* * *

"Okay Dude, I want to see you do it." Nick was saying when Grissom walked into the break room. Looking around the room, he noticed Greg standing against the counter. 

"Assuming you don't mean me, what do you want to see Greg do?" Grissom asked as he walked over to the mini fridge, tucked his clipboard under his arm, and took out a soda.

Nick smirked and nodded toward Greg. "Go on, tell him. Tell him of this great plan you've come up with." Nick crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, waiting. Greg's face flushed, and he shrugged.

Looking at Grissom he explained. "See, it's like this. Sara broke it off with Hank, what? Over three years ago, and as far as we can see, she hasn't been dating anyone since. Well, I think it's time she got back out there. My cousin just came into town, he's not as… suave as I am, but I think that he and Sara will hit it off. So I told Jason to meet me here for lunch, and I'm going to invite Sara to go with us. Than Nick here is going to conveniently call me away, so you know, they can get to know each other.

Grissom turned to the sink to rinse off the top of the soda can, thinking that he could go in several directions with his response. Slowly turning back around, he chose what he thought would be the most interesting route. "I think that's a good idea Greg. I'm sure that Sara will appreciate your thoughtfulness." He reached for a paper towel to dry off his can. "When are you going to ask her?"

"When are you going to ask whom what?" Catherine asked as she came into the break room. "For that matter, who's doing the asking?" She walked over and sat down at the table, looking at each of the three men.

"Greggo here is going to set Sara up with his cousin. Grissom seems to think it's a good idea, and was asking Greg when he was going to ask Sara to go with him and his cousin to lunch." Nick supplied. "What are your thoughts on the matter?"

She turned and addressed Grissom. "Well… Firstly, I'm kind of surprised that you Gil, would be for someone interfering in anyone's personal life." Turning back to Greg she said. "I, however; think it's a terrible idea." Greg tried to interrupt, but Catherine wouldn't let him. "Wait, now let me explain. Sara is an intensely private person. Who knows, she may already be seeing someone, I mean after what happened with Hank, she may not want to advertise any relationship that she may have, just in case it doesn't turn out well. Plus, I don't think that she'll appreciate you interfering in her life. But don't let my opinion stop you. I kind of want to find out what'll happen if you do it.

Grissom spoke up. "Well, whatever you do, it will have to be done later. We do actually have some crime scenes to work tonight. Warrick and Sara are still on that strip club homicide. Catherine, how are things going on that B&E?"

Catherine sighed and filled them in. "I'm still waiting on some fingerprint analysis, Mandy's been backed up. There really wasn't much to go on, the surveillance video didn't catch much of anything, you saw that for yourself Gil, to tell you the truth, I don't hold much hope of the fingerprints helping us. This case seems to be going nowhere fast."

Grissom dropped an assignment sheet in front of her. "You may get another chance. Another B&E, two streets away from the one you're working. Looks like the same MO." He nodded towards Greg. "Take Greg with you."

Catherine grabbed the assignment sheet and hopped up. "Come on. I want to get out there as soon as possible."

Greg hurried to catch up. "Wait, where are we going?"

Catherine called out as she headed out the door. "Summerlin."

Turning back to the only person left in the room Grissom continued. "Nick, you and I have a 419 out in Henderson. I'll meet you at the car in…" He looked at his watch. "Let's say twenty minutes. I've got something to do before we leave." Nick nodded.

"That's fine. I want to change into something a little more… shall we say, crime scene friendly." They each headed in separate directions. As Grissom headed down the hall, he pulled out his cell phone, and dialed. "Hey, meet me in my office in five minutes, sooner if you can get there." He hung up without waiting for a reply. Turning down the hallway to his office, he saw that she was already waiting inside, standing beside his desk. He walked in and closed the door, locking it. He'd taken to just leaving the blinds closed so that he wouldn't have to bother with them each time he wanted privacy. "You sure got here fast." He said, dropping his phone onto his desk.

"I was just stopping by to see you before I headed over to see Ronnie in QD. I thought I'd leave you a note." She said indicating the paper she'd been writing on. "What did you want to see me about?" He filled her in on Greg's plan.

"What do you think I should do? I know that Greg only means well, but as you well know, my social life is kind of full right now." She flopped down in a chair.

Teasing her, he answered. "Well, I guess that depends on how happy you are with your social life. I mean, are all your needs being met?"

Getting up, she walked over to him. Putting her arms around his neck, she leaned up and whispered in his ear, "Baby, I've got needs met, I didn't know I had." He encircled her waist with his arms.

Whispering back, he answered. "Well then, I think that you should accept the lunch invitation, or not. It's up to you."

Toying with the hair at his nape, she thought about it, than she remembered. "I couldn't go anyway; Warrick promised me lunch for making me come in so early. That should put off Greg, at least for now." Leaning back to look in his face, she asked. "Now, what are you doing today?"

Looking into her eyes, he almost got lost. "Hmm… Oh, uh… Nick and I have a 419 in Henderson. I don't know what time I'll get back."

'Well than, let me give you a little something to get you through the night." She leaned up and softly traced her tongue along his lips, than sucked his lower lip into her mouth. He took control, deepening the kiss, and for long minutes all they were aware of was the velvety stroke of their tongues, and the sweet taste of desire. Slowly she pulled away, and he slumped against the desk, catching his breath.

Clearing his throat, he managed. "Well, you should probably head on over to QD. I need a few minutes to compose myself before I meet Nick." Smiling she leaned into him and reached behind him and picked up her phone. "You do that." Than she headed over to the door.

Peeking through the blinds to make sure the coast was clear, she turned back to him before she opened the door, whispering. "See you later." She turned, opened the door, and was gone before he could come up with a reply.

* * *

Sara entered the Questioned Documents office a mere ten minutes later. She had cooled down during the walk over, and she was ready to tackle the case with vigor. Ronnie was standing by a table across the room. Walking up behind him, she leaned over to see what he was doing. Straightening, she stepped to his side. "Hey, Ronnie." Ronnie jumped, dropping the deck of cards he had been shuffling. 

"Geez Sara, You ever hear of knocking?" He gathered up the scattered cards, and stashed them in a drawer under the counter. Taking a deep breath, he turned to her. "I was just practicing my shuffling; some of the guys are coming over tomorrow for our weekly poker game. It's my turn to deal. Now, I assume you're here to see if I was able to recover any of those phone numbers."

Smiling she nodded. "Did you get anything?"

"They don't call me the Ink Wizard for nothing." He smiled and pointed to the table across the lab.

"Who calls you the Ink Wizard?" Sara inquired as she walked over to the table.

Ronnie came up beside her and showed her the pages of the address book. "People… I know." He answered, blushing. "Anyway, luckily, when the numbers were crossed out, a permanent marker was used. This kept the underlying pen impressions intact. Using ESDA, I was able to bring the numbers up. I took the liberty of copying the numbers, so that you wouldn't have to do it. If you want, you can double check that they're correct."

"That's okay, I trust you." Picking up the papers with the copied numbers, she walked toward the door. "See you later… Ink Wizard." Smiling she walked down the hall, it was time to catch up with Warrick to see what he had found.

* * *

"So, Wendy was able to pull some DNA from those epithelials. There was no match in CODIS, but it's female DNA. Given the evidence, it's possible he was stabbed with some kind of nail file." Warrick leaned over and grabbed a french fry off of the styrofoam container in front of her. She slapped his hand. 

"Hey! Just because you wolfed down your food, doesn't mean you can pilfer from me." Sara reproved. Sliding her food a little closer to her, she continued their conversation. "Sophia has the number that was written under Mae Riley's name in the address book. Hopefully, we'll be able to question her and her sister before the nights up."

Getting up to throw away his own container, he ran through his thoughts out loud. "If the killer was a woman, than we have what? Four suspects that we know of. The girlfriend, Janet Freely, the waitress, Sandy Temple, which would be a reason for her to run, and this excuse about being scared for her life could be a ruse, the ex-girlfriend, Mae Riley, or her sister Sally." He sat back down and leaned back in his chair.

Sara picked up a fry and idly ran it thought some ketchup. "That is if the murder weapon wasn't found at the scene, and taken with the killer. Women throw away nail files all the time, and the vic was killed behind a strip club. Plus, we can only legally get a DNA sample from Sandy Temple. There is no evidence, as of yet, that the other woman were anywhere around when the vic was killed." Watching Warrick eye her food, she pushed it over to him. She'd had enough anyway. "We also don't know who the man was that the vic had had sex with. Did we ever find out how long before death he'd had sex?'

"According to Wendy, less than an hour, so it's likely that the sex was with the man that he met with after Nelson. Ms. Temple did say that he had met with him on several occasions. But… she could be lying. Maybe she had had a relationship with him, and when she saw him with this guy she lost it. Of course, that would work for Ms. Freely also, though we have no evidence that either of them was in that alley." Warrick leaned forward and devoured the rest of her lunch. Sara watched him with a smile.

"Didn't you eat before you came in? If I remember correctly, the reason I had to come in so early was because you had an important breakfast with Tina." Sara watched him shift in his chair, finally getting up and depositing the container in the trash.

"Let's just say that eating wasn't on the agenda. Actually not much talking got done either. Tina got called into work early. I don't know, how can you work out you're problems, when you never have any time to talk them out, and THAT is the major problem?" He sat back down, and shook his head. "I don't know what to do."

Sara reached over and wrapped her hand around his. "'Rick, if you have love and trust, everything else can be worked out, you just have to give it time."

"Yeah, maybe you're right." He brought his other hand up and gave her hand a squeeze. "Anyway, getting back to the case, where do we go next?"

"First, we get a DNA sample from Sandy Temple. If nothing else, we'll be able to determine if the DNA found on the vic is hers." Drawing a note pad closer, she began to write. "Second, we question all the woman from the strip club, try and determine if any of them threw out a nail file, it would have to have been fairly recent, due to the freshness of the epithelials. We could also ask them if they would be willing to give us a DNA sample. It couldn't hurt to ask."

Warrick got up and started pacing. "You know, we could also ask Janet Freely for a sample…" He was interrupted by his phone. Checking the display, he saw that it was Sophia. Flipping it open, he sat back down at the table. Sara overheard him say "Hey Sophia", and wondered why she had called Warrick instead of her, as she had said she would.

Warrick flipped his phone closed, and looked at her. "That was Sophia, Mae and Sally Riley are coming in. She said she tried to call you, but Grissom answered." Frowning, Sara unclipped her phone from her belt, only to see that it wasn't her phone, but Grissom's.

"Huh, they must have gotten mixed up earlier." Thinking fast she improvised a reason. "He let me use his charger to charge my phone; he must have taken mine off, and put his on. When I went by his office, I just grabbed the one on the charger. You know, that reminds me of something." Getting up she headed toward the door. "Why don't you go and talk to the sisters, and I'll get back with you later. I'll also give Gris a call and let him know I have his phone." Not giving Warrick a chance to answer, she exited the room.

Warrick looked after her. He'd run into Nick earlier, and he'd told him of Greg's plan to set Sara up with his cousin. He'd thought it was a crazy idea, but watching her now, he thought that it might not be such a bad idea after all. Sighing, he headed off to continue this long night.

* * *

**TBC...**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI or any of its characters, Yada, yada, yada. 

**A/n: **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. You guys ROCK!! I hope you guys who aren't reviewing are enjoying the story. Please let me know what you think.

* * *

**Chapter 12**

"When was the last time you saw B.J. Johnson?" Brass's question was directed to the petite woman sitting across from him.

"I-I haven't seen him in over three years. Ever since he came out here." Mae Riley answered with a hitch in her voice.

"What about in the last couple of weeks? Are you telling me you didn't even try to contact him?"

"No."

"C'mon, are you expecting me to believe that you came all the way out to Vegas, and didn't think about contacting the father of your child. The man who hasn't given you a single dime to help with your son?" He watched her eyes fill with tears. "The man who has never even met his son?"

Tears rolling down her cheeks, she shook her head. "I, I-I swear! I did not see him." Wiping the back of her hand across her cheeks, she continued. "I admit that I thought about it, but in the end I just had too much pride. If he didn't want anything to do with his son, who am I to force him?

Warrick pushed a box of tissues over to her, and she grabbed a couple, blowing her nose.

"So, let me get this straight. You traveled over twenty-one hundred miles, to the city that the father of your son lives in, the city that probably gets all the money that he could have sent to you for his son and you don't go to see him? Don't even try to call him?" Brass got up and paced the room. "So what? You just decided to leave your son at home, and have yourself a wild time in Vegas?"

"No! No, it's not like that. I didn't leave my son. He's here; he's with my mom at the hotel. And I didn't try to contact B.J." Sniffling, she dried her eyes with another tissue. "Sure, there was a time I would have. There was a time… there was a time I would have begged him if I'd seen him. But, but I'm stronger now. I don't need a man in my life like that. My son certainly doesn't need someone in his life that could treat him like B.J.'s treated him. I told B.J. that I would never cut him off from his son, and I never would, but he never even tried to be a father to him. It took a while, but I finally realized that he was a waste of my time."

"And the money? Surely you could have used the money he owed you." Brass sat back down.

Sighing, Mae shook her head. "Sure, there was a time where the money would have come in handy, but things are better now. I've got a good job, and my sister recently won some money in the lottery. Money really isn't a worry anymore.

"So why come to Vegas? Why now?" Warrick leaned forward and asked.

Shaking her head, she looked toward the door. "It was my sisters' idea. She loves to play poker and she wanted to come here, see if she could enter one of those tournaments." Looking back at Brass, she murmured, "I always said that I didn't want to come here, because B.J. was here. Sally said that that was stupid, that I was giving him too much power over me. So, when she decided she wanted to come here, and asked me to come with her, I-I said yes. I guess I wanted to prove that he couldn't control any part of me."

"Tell me, what was B.J. like when you knew him?"

"Self centered. He always needed money because he couldn't keep a steady job. At the time, I lived with my parents and I convinced them to let him move in. He didn't have a place to live." Rolling her eyes, she sat up straighter. "That was a terrible idea. He stole money from me. My father couldn't stand him, so they argued all the time. My mother tried to be nice to him, but I don't know… he just didn't care for them I guess."

"Where is your father now?" Warrick asked.

"Dead. He died two years ago. I think he always felt bad about not doing something to get B.J. out of my life." She gave a little laugh. "Like I would have listened to anything he had to say. Don't ask me why, but I had it bad for B.J."

"What about your sister? What did she think of Mr. Johnson?" Brass asked, sounding calmer.

"Sally? Oh Sally never takes to anyone right away. If she knows you a while, and you prove that you're an okay person, she'll eventually accept you." Mae brushed her long brown hair from her face. "B.J., he never made it onto the acceptable list. I don't think he even made it to the tolerable list. It might have been better if he'd shown any interest in Colin. But, let's just say there was no love lost there."

Warrick and Brass shared a look. "Have you and your sister been together the entire time you've been in Vegas?"

"No. We live together at home, and though she wanted me to have a vacation, spending every minute of our vacation together… well, let's just say that wouldn't be a good idea." Looking from Brass to Warrick, she suddenly realized what they were asking. "No, no she wouldn't do that. She may not have liked him, but she couldn't kill… she wouldn't…"

She looked down, lost in thought. Brass and Warrick shared a knowing look.

"Where were you Tuesday night?"

"What time Tuesday night?"

"Let's say between ten and one."

"Oh, I watched television until eleven, than I went to bed. I'd had a long day, and I was out soon after my head hit the pillow."

"Is there anyone who can vouch for that?" Brass pressed.

"My mom, she went to bed the same time as me."

Brass scratched his head. "What about your sister?"

"I don't know exactly, I didn't think about asking her."

"One more thing, Ms. Riley." Warrick's tone was gentle. "Do you use a nail file?"

Slowly looking up, she shook her head. "You mean an emery board?"

"No, a nail file. You know, maybe with some kind of decoration on it."

"No, I'm a nurse; I keep my nails clipped short. If I need to use something to take away the rough edges, I use a cardboard emery board.

"What about you sister, dose she have any kind of nail file?" Warrick pressed.

Looking sad, she shook her head, "I-I really don't know.

* * *

Out in the hall, Warrick turned to Brass. "What do you think?"

"I don't know. She certainly sounds sincere, but- I don't know. It could just be an act." Brass scratched his head and squinted up at Warrick. "I think we'd better question the sister, maybe we can catch the other one in a lie."

Heading over to the door across the hall, Warrick agreed. When they walked in, they found Sally sitting there, looking mightily peeved. From her first sentence they knew this interview wasn't going to go smoothly.

"What are we doing here?" she asked her eyes boring into Brass' eyes."

"You're here because B.J. Johnson was killed, and you and your sister are in town, and you have a mighty big reason for wanting him dead." Brass sat as her answered.

She studied him for awhile, than burst out laughing. "Well, I'll give you that one. The bastard isn't high on my people I'd mourn list. But I wouldn't kill him. Hell, I don't even know where he lives in this grand city." Shaking her head she crossed her arms. " I didn't wish him dead. Not because he deserved to live, but one day… one day my nephew is going to want to know about his dad, and maybe by than B. J. would have been able to be something for him."

"I find that hard to believe. Your sister says you couldn't stand him, and after what he did to her, you want me to believe you really care what happened to him?" Brass needled.

"I didn't say I cared what happened to him. Personally I couldn't care less, but for my nephew's sake, and only for his sake, I wouldn't want that lying piece of shit dead." She sat back and crossed her legs, pushing a strand of auburn hair behind her ear.

Warrick and Brass shared a look. Warrick ventured. "Your sister says that you and she haven't been together at all times during your vacation. Is that true?"

"Yeah, what would be the fun in that?" She looked between the two of them. "Would you like to spend you're entire vacation with the people you see everyday? I want her and my mom to have fun, but I don't need to be there to witness it.

"Did you at any time try to contact Mr. Johnson?

"I'll admit that I looked for his name in the phone book. Didn't find it. I don't know what I would have done if I had."

"Where were you on Tuesday night?" Warrick asked gently.

"Playing poker at the casino at our hotel; won two grand. It was a pretty good night… for some."

"What time did you start playing?" Brass pushed.

"Tournament started at seven. Ended about, oh… one. And if you want to know, the only other place I went was to the little girls' room. Look, I came here for one reason and one reason only. To play poker in a Las Vegas casino. I would have been happy if I'd lost money, winning… well that was beyond my dreams." She looked to Brass, "Is THAT it? "Can I go now?"

"Just this, do you use a nail file?"

Holding out her hands, she wiggled her fingers. "Does it look like it? I have a bad habit of biting my nails. Not to the quick, but if they get too long, and snag on something, I just… bite them off. Filing would take too much time."

Sighing, Brass acquiesced. "You and your sister can go for now, but we may want to talk to you again. How long do you plan on being in town?"

She stood up, pushing her chair under the table. "We're scheduled for another week, but than we have to get back. I hope you have your answers by then." She followed them out of the room. Brass stepped in to get Mae just as an older man wearing black walked by. Sally watched him as he walked to the end of the hall. "My, my! Who's the hottie?"

The man had stopped at the end of the hall, and was talking to a man with a close shaved head. Warrick looked towards where she was looking. "Who? Nick?" he asked puzzled.

"If he's the man with the graying curls… than yeah, except he doesn't look like a Nick." She couldn't keep from staring.

Warrick snorted. "You mean GRISSOM?"

He sounded so astounded that she nearly laughed. "If that's the name of the man in the glasses, than yeah. Mmm… Grissom, that's a good name. It fits." Looking back toward the men down the hall, she asked. "What does he do?"

Still a little disbelieving he answered. "He's my supervisor, the man in charge of the graveyard shift." Looking at her, he revealed. "He likes bugs."

"Bugs huh?" Just than a woman came around the corner and started towards them. Sally noticed that the mans' eyes kept straying to her. The woman was beautiful, in a normal kind of way. Her hair fell to just below her shoulders, slightly curling, and she had nicely shaped brown eyes. In her hand she held a cell phone. On her way down the hall, she stopped and exchanged phones with the man, Grissom. Seeing the look that she gave him Sally sighed. "Sounds interesting, too bad he's got a girl." She said turning back to Warrick.

"Grissom? He's not seeing anyone." He turned and contemplated the man as he walked around the corner. "At least I don't think he is." Just than, the woman reached them.

"Hey 'Rick," Turning she smiled at Sally. "Hi, my name is Sara, and you are?"

"Sally Riley. I was just telling Mr. Brown here that it was a shame that that man Grissom was seeing someone."

Sara's smile froze. "Grissom? Seeing someone? I don't think so."

Confused, Sally looked from Sara and Warrick. "I-I guess I was wrong. But, you have to admit he is lickable." They both made noncommittal noises, and seemed relieved when Brass finally came out with Mae.

"Okay, well, I hope you catch the killer. Have a good day." And with that, Sally and Mae made their way out the door.

Watching the girls leave, Sara searched for a way to get away from the subject she knew was going to come up. "So, did we learn anything from them?"

"Not really, but they're not going anywhere right now. We'll have to see if anything else comes up to connect them to the murder." Warrick turned the other way, and started down the hall, the other two following. "Did you get anything yet on that phone number?"

"Yeah, actually I did. I got the new number assigned to that phone; all I could find out otherwise, is that it's some kind of business. You want to call it, find out what kind?" She handed her phone to Warrick."

"Sure, why not?" he read the number off the paper Sara held up, than put the phone on speaker.

"Hello, Manny's Man Haven. How can we fulfill your needs?" A voice fairly oozed over the line.

"Uh… um I have a wrong number." Warrick hung up. Looking at Sara and Brass, he laughed, "Well, that answers one question. Looks like we're going on a field trip."

**TBC…**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI or any characters therein. The story and other characters are mine. 

**A/n:** Sorry this is late, it took me a little longer to finish this chapter than I thought it would. If you see any spelling mistakes let me know. I 'm going through the other chapters slowly but surely to check for mistakes. I tend to overlook mistakes, because I know what it's supposed to say, so that's what I see, and that causes me to miss simple little mistakes, and some big ones. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Please continue to tell me what you think.

**Chapter 13**

Warrick, Sara, and Brass pulled up to the large clapboard house surrounded by desert, around five that morning. Flood lights illuminated the walls, allowing them to see that it was painted a muted shade of green. It looked like it was in need of a new coat of paint, but that could be a trick of the light. The front yard was a beautifully xeroscaped garden. The rap around porch with its hanging porch swings looked inviting. Sara could see herself sitting in one after a long night of collecting evidence. Bamboo shades were rolled up between each post, just waiting to be lowered to keep the harsh afternoon sun off of anyone wanting to enjoy the porch during the day. They got out of the Denali and headed up the shelled path to the front stairs. Climbing up the wide steps to the porch, Sara admired the wind chimes hanging from each post. That is, she admired them until she noticed that each one depicted a fully erect penis. Looking around, she saw that Warrick and Brass had also noticed these hanging phalluses; their faces were turning delightful shades of red. Warrick was the first to speak.

"Well, I'll make a guess that we have the right place. I was starting to worry that we were about to disturb some family with a passel of kids, and two adoring parents." Sighing he looked around the garden, noticing things they hadn't seen before. The statuary in the garden was all of men in varying degrees of undress. Some of the men depicted were enjoying activities best kept behind closed doors.

"I guess no one can claim false advertising." Brass chuckled.

"No, they certainly could not." Sara could hardly contain her giggles.

Suddenly they became aware of a yelling coming from behind the closed front door.

"How could you leave me in the lurch like this? You know we get loads of requests for you, because you're the best at fellatio" The voice so was high and shrill, that they couldn't tell if it came from a man or a woman, though going by the type of establishment they were at, Warrick would lay bets that it was the former.

"You mean I'm a glorified cock sucker, who pulls in the Johns so that you can maintain the lifestyle that you like to pretend you've earned! Well I'm tired of wallowing in the cesspool. I've found someone who wants to be with me, for me. I hope one day, you'll find the same." Without preamble the door flew open. Two suitcases sailed out, followed by a man in skin tight jeans, and a black tee-shirt. His hair was cropped close to his head, and when he noticed them standing there Sara saw that is eyes were a startling, clear green. Ignoring them, he picked up his cases, and started towards the stairs. Before he'd gone two steps a petite blond woman came to the door yelling.

"You'll be back! Sooner or later he'll get tired of meeting men who know you, but whose faces you don't recognize, then we'll see how long your new found love will last." Noticing that someone was standing there, she turned and smiled. "Welcome to Manny's Man Haven. I'm Manny." She looked Warrick and Brass up and down, not seeing Sara who was standing behind Warrick. Smiling up at them, she asked. "How may we serve you today?" Brass, having regained his composure, stepped forward.

"Ma'am, I'm Detective Jim Brass." Turning he motioned to Warrick and Sara, "These are criminalists from the crime lab, we're investigating a murder, and the victim had the number for your uh, establishment. We were hoping we could show you a picture, see if you recognized him?"

While Brass was talking to Manny, Sara had been idly watching the man who had stormed out and was now pacing the porch, talking into a cell phone. "Come on, pick up!" He stopped pacing, and ran his hand through is hair, sighing loudly. "Come on, Honey, you've got to have your phone on." After a few seconds, he groaned and shut his phone, muttering, "Damn voice mail!"

Turning her attention back to Manny and the picture Brass was showing her, she noticed the other woman's face turn ashen. Mutely, she looked up at the man, who was back on the phone, again begging for someone to answer. Looking back at Brass, she nodded. "That's- it's B.J." Looking back at the man, she shook her head. "Are you sure he's dead?"

"Yes ma'am, we're positive." Warrick answered. "Could you tell us how you knew him?"

"He, well he was a client for the last couple of years." She turned and sat on one of the wicker chairs that were set by the front door.

"When was the last time you saw him?" Warrick asked, not unkindly.

"I didn't see him all that often, just once a month when he settled up his bill. We'd send someone to meet him at the place of his choice; they'd service him, then come back here."

"Did he prefer one particular…?" Warrick couldn't find the word he was looking for, something that hadn't happened to him in a long time.

Grinning, Manny helped him out. "He preferred a variety of meats. Had a real taste for the exotic." She looked over her shoulder. "That is until recently."

Sara jumped in. "You mean he'd been seeing someone in particular lately?" Looking over at Brass, she drew his attention to the man still trying, unsuccessfully to reach someone on the phone. She had a feeling his luck wasn't going to get any better. "Someone who we could talk to right now?" Manny slowly nodded, and indicated the man, who was now looking very agitated.

They watched as she walked over and got his attention. Still looking agitated; he turned and scowled at her. "I told you Manny, I'm leaving. I've found someone who loves me, for me. I-I just can't do this anymore. I…"

"Miles!" She interrupted him. "These detectives want to talk to you."

"Why would they want to talk to me?" He looked over at the people standing there looking somber. Brass drew in a deep breath, and walked over to where the other two stood.

"Sir, we've come here to find out if anyone knew the victim of a recent homicide. As it turns out, he was a regular customer. Would you mind looking at a picture for us?"

Miles sighed, looked from Manny to Brass, and slowly nodded. Sara came forward with the picture and held it up for him to look at. Jerkily he took the picture from her, and stared at it. Tears began to slide down his cheeks. Looking up, he nodded, "Yes, I know him-knew him.

"Was he a customer?" Warrick pressed.

Starring back down at the picture, he shook his head. "It started off that way, but he really loved me. We were going to have a real relationship." Sinking down on the padded porch swing that they stood in front of, he wrapped his arms around himself. "Are you sure it's him? Maybe the guy you found just looks like B.J."

Sara looked between Warrick and Brass, and gave an exasperated sigh. Sinking to her knees, he patted Miles on the shoulder. "We're pretty positive. A couple of people have identified him, and we found his wallet in the vicinity of the body. We um… we're going to need you to come down to the station so that we can get a statement from you."

He closed his eyes, and sniffled. Drying his eyes on his shoulder, he looked up at her and nodded. Slowly getting up, he helped her to her feet. Waking over to his suitcases he picked them up and started for the stairs a couple of feet away. Manny came over and held out her hand. "Why don't you let me take those and I'll have everything settled back in your room by the time you get back."

Looking at her, he shook his head. "I'm not coming back, Manny. This changes nothing. I still want something better." Jerking is arm from her grasp; he turned and walked down the stairs, Sara right behind him. "I'm going to have to get you to give me a ride. My car's in the shop. I was going to get… get B… B.J. to pick… pick me up." He stuttered.

"That's fine; we've got plenty of room." She unlocked the door, and helped him stow his luggage into the back. Looking back at the porch, she saw that Brass was handing his card to Manny.

"If you remember anything, just give us a call." He turned, and he and Warrick started down the steps, only to be stopped by Manny's voice.

"He'll be back. He can't make it in this town without my help." Then she turned and headed inside. Brass and Warrick looked at each other, Warrick speaking what they both were thinking.

"Crazy!"

* * *

They got back to the station in record time. Walking into the building, Sara saw Spencer Bergh standing at the reception desk. Motioning to Warrick, she pulled him aside. "Why don't you go and see what Miles has to say. I'm going to see what Mr. Bergh wants."

"No problem. You know it's almost end of shift, why don't you go home after you talk to Bergh."

"You know, I'll take you up on that offer." She started to head off, but turned back. "Hey look, I know he's technically a suspect, but can you guys not go too hard on Miles. I just don't get the feeling that he's our guy. I could be wrong, but that's my gut feeling."

"Yeah, I get that feeling too. Get some sleep." Giving her a salute he turned and followed Brass down the hall. Sara walked over to the reception desk, and watched as Bergh tapped his fingers on the desk. It didn't look like anyone was around to help him, but they could be trying to find someone he'd asked for.

"Hey Mr. Bergh, is someone helping you?" She asked as she stepped up beside him.

He turned to her, looking a little ill at ease. "Um… yeah, I mean no. No one's helping me. I-I-I, I came in because I thought of something that might help you. I haven't been able to sleep lately wondering who would do this, and it got me thinking. Did B.J. have his phone with him when he was found?"

"No. No he didn't have a phone. In fact, we didn't find a phone anywhere that looked like it belonged to him." Sara took his arm and led him toward the waiting area, gesturing to a seat, she sat after he did.

"Are you sure? B.J. never went anywhere without his phone." Laughing a bit, he shook his head. "I always used to tease him that if he didn't have his phone, he wouldn't know what to do."

"Well, I can double check the evidence, but a phone would have been tagged as high priority. It would have been the first thing we looked through. Do you know if there is anywhere else he might have left it?" Sara thought they might want to ask Miles about the phone, but she doubted that he would have it. After all, he'd been trying to call B.J. back at Manny's.

"I can't imagine that he would have left it anywhere, and he didn't even like to let me use it when my battery was dead. Acted like it held some kinda top government secrets."

"Well I sure that we'll find it. Your coming in here has helped a great deal." They both stood, and Sara shook his hand. "We didn't know about the phone, and now we do. It could help us break the case."

"I want to help as much as I can. Do you think it would be okay if I sat here awhile and thought things through? I might remember something else that could be helpful."

"Sure, that would be fine." There was something else she wanted to ask him, but she hesitated. Deciding that it was something that had to be asked, she moved them to a corner for more privacy. "Um Mr. Bergh, were you aware that B.J. was gay?"

He blushed. " I-I, He never said anything. But I thought, well I thought I was letting my newfound sensitivity make me see things that weren't there."

"Newfound sensitivity?" Smiling she asked, "Does that mean that you recently discovered that you are gay?"

"Actually, I- admitted it to myself a couple of years ago, about a year after we came out here." He rubbed his hand through is hair. "I think it was one of the reasons that I wanted to leave Georgia. I had a girlfriend, and I just couldn't make myself, well… want her. It'd been like that since I was in school. I'd find myself more interested in hanging out in the boys' locker room, than going out with any of the girls. You have to understand, in the household I grew up in, no one ever talked about things like being gay. If ever something came up to do with homosexuality my parents just said it was wrong, and started talking about something else." He stopped and gave a bitter laugh. "I once found this video in my dads' office. It was a gay porn video. I think my dad was repressing something himself. I can't tell you how many times I watched that video. Then girls started paying attention to me, and I didn't want to seem too different so I went along with whatever they wanted to do. When I started having sex, I'd close my eyes and think of that video. Anyway, when I came out here I met someone. We were friends for a while, than about a year after being here it became something more. He, um, he died in a car accident about a year ago, that's why I moved into another apartment. I'd never felt anything for B.J. so I figured it would be okay if he moved in." Laughing he turned and looked at the plaques on the wall. "I guess my gaydar isn't quite up to snuff." He stared at the wall silently, then turning back to Sara, he asked. "How did you guys know he was…?"

"First I'd like to say, I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I can't really say anything about the case though. Let's just say, we found someone he'd been seeing." Wanting to give him something to put him at ease she relented a little. "If it makes you feel any better, he was loved."

"I hope so. I have my doubts however, about B.J. loving anyone. He was a user." He turned and started back to the chairs. After about two steps he hesitated and turned around. "Um, thank you for listening. You're the first person I've told all that, and I have to say I feel a lot lighter."

"Well, your welcome. I know how it can feel to share a secret." Clearing her throat, she pointed towards the chairs. "Feel free to sit for as long as you'd like. I'll go see if we can find that phone."

She started walking down the hall. Her conversation with Spencer had left her feeling in need of a hug. She'd get on the phone info as soon as she could; first she needed to find Gil. She saw Nick further down the hall. Coming up to him, she tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, do you know where Grissom is?"

He jerked his head toward the interrogation room. "He's in there, talking to a suspect in our case. Why? What do you need with him?" He turned to her, looking puzzled.

"Uh, something's come up in my case. I need to ask him something about the evidence he gathered from the vic's house." Yeah, that worked. It killed two birds with one stone. "How long do you think he'll be in there?

"I don't know, they've been in there a while now."

"Okay, just tell him to give me a call when he gets out. I've got to talk to Warrick, then I'm heading over to the lab." She turned and walked to the next hall where the interview rooms were. She found them in interview room two. Not wanting to disturb them, she took out her phone and sent him a text message. She typed, _Ask about vics phone_. Watching through the window in the door as Warrick picked up his phone. She saw him get the message and turned to head back to the parking lot.

* * *

They had just about wrapped up their questioning when Warrick received Sara's message. Looking down at his notes, he thought of all they had learned. Miles and B.J. had been seeing each other pretty regularly for the two weeks prior to Johnson's death. They found out that Johnson hadn't paid for the last month of services. He usually paid at the beginning of the month for one night a week. Miles said that he didn't consider B.J. a John, so he didn't worry about not getting paid, but that Manny had been pissed. He'd also learned that Miles had given half his savings to B.J. to help find them their own apartment. He'd given it to him the night he was killed. Ten thousand dollars that would have gone along way to paying Nelsen. Only thing was, he hadn't seen Nelsen again before he was killed, and if he had given him the money, he would have had no reason to kill him. Now, after receiving Sara's message he realized that they had two pieces of missing evidence.

"Mr. Mason, could you go over everything that happened Tuesday night one more time, from the beginning."

Sighing, Miles started talking; repeating much of what he'd already told them. "I got to Chanteuse at about ten thirty. We went out to the car, mine's in the shop, so I was using one of Manny's. Anyway, we got into the car, drove to a small motel, had sex, talked for a little bit, then I gave him the money. He said he was going to put the down payment on a nice little house, and we'd meet up later to decide when to tell Manny that I was leaving. Than I drove him back to the alley behind the club."

"Did you see anyone else in the alley?" Brass asked his eyes stinging from being up for so long.

"No, I was rather occupied. He got out and headed toward the club, and I turned the car around and went back home. I stopped and got something to eat on the way ."

"So, you didn't actually see B.J. enter the club?" Warrick wanted to clarify.

"No, I just assumed that he did. He was a karaoke fool." He smiled a bit.

"We've heard that sometimes you'd come in with him. Why not that night?" Warrick knew there had to be something, somewhere.

"Manny had been riding me about spending so much time with B.J. Especially since she hadn't been paid. I was able to get out of most of the appointments that Manny had set up for me, but this was a guy that was a regular, and since all he wanted was a blow job, I decided to go ahead and do it. B.J. said he didn't mind, that he understood why I had to."

"Why did you decide to leave before you talked to B.J.?"

"Manny booked me to be with this real whack job. I mean I've done a lot of kinky things in my line of work. But what this guy wanted, I just couldn't make myself do. Plus, he had to be four hundred pounds. Even if all he'd wanted to do was get a blow job, I don't think I could have done it. I don't think he'd bathed well in quite a while. It was just the last straw. I told him I had the stomach flu, and sent him to one of the other guys. Jerry has a fat fetish, so he was happy. Anyway after that I just couldn't stay any longer. I like sex, but I like the emotional side of a relationship too."

"We have to tell you, the money you gave to B.J. has disappeared." Brass wanted to see his reaction.

"Maybe that'll help find the guy who did this. I got that money out of my account at the bank, and I'm pretty sure the serial numbers were in sequential order." He sounded sincere.

"Okay just one more thing. Did B.J. have his phone with him last night?" Warrick wasn't certain what this had to do with the case, but he was sure that it could be important.

"Oh yeah! He never went anywhere without it. Why? Didn't you find it?" He looked concerned.

"We'll have to look into it. We just need to know as much about a persons' habits as we can." Warrick hedged. Sighing, he stood up, followed by Brass. "Well Miles, you're free to go for now, but if we have anymore questions where can we reach you?"

"I don't know. I have nowhere to go right now, do you mind if hang out here until I find a place, then I could tell you where I'm going." He sounded so hopeful that they couldn't refuse.

"Sure, you can sit in the waiting area. If you need to, there's a phone at reception that you can use." Warrick showed him to the chairs.

"That's okay; I have my cell with me. Thanks for everything." Warrick watched as he walked over and sat in the seat next to where Spencer Bergh was sitting. Turing to Brass, he motioned for him to head down the hall.

"I'm going to call Sara, find out if she knows were Johnson's phone is. Then I'm going home. How 'bout you?"

"I think I'll head on home too. This day has kicked my butt." He clapped Warrick on the back and headed off to his office to grab his keys.

* * *

Sara stretched out on the couch and snuggled deeper into the cushions. She'd checked the evidence, and hadn't found a phone. Then she'd waited in Grissom's office until Warrick had called her with what he'd found out from Miles. They'd agreed that it could be a big lead, and had gotten someone on tracing any signal that was coming from the phone, but they weren't sure if it would come to anything. If the phone wasn't on, it could be days before someone turned it on, if they ever did.

After they'd taken care of the phone trace, she'd decided that Grissom could be hours yet if the suspect that he was questioning was viable. She knew that he always kept his phone on vibrate when he was in an interrogation, so she'd called and left a message on his voice mail, telling him that she was going home.

Slowly she became aware of something tickling her cheek. Stirring, she slowly opened her eyes, realizing that she'd fallen asleep. "Ah, I was wondering how long it would be before you woke up. I've been sitting her for the last ten minutes." Grissom leaned down and kissed her cheek again.

"Hi, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep. I was trying to wait up for you." Looking around she asked, "What time is it?"

"A little after ten, you hungry?" She sat up and he smiled at the way her hair was mused in the back, sticking up at odd angles. He always loved to watch her wake up. It was one of only three times when her defenses were down. The first being when she was sleeping, which he also liked to watch, and the second was when they made love.

"No, I had a sandwich when I first got home, but you go ahead and eat something." She watched as he got up and headed toward the kitchen. She pulled herself up and followed him. He picked up a bag and turned to her.

"Are you sure? I brought veggie breakfast burritos from that Veggie place you like so much." He waved the bag in front of her. "I also got some of those zucchini muffins you like." She smiled and grabbed for the bag. He knew she couldn't resist those muffins.

Deciding that he deserved some teasing she said. "You know, I met someone today that seemed quite enamored of you. In fact, she said that you were lickable. I have to say, I don't disagree. I've certainly enjoyed my share of licking." Seeing the look in his eyes, she turned and ran for the bedroom. Following her, he couldn't wait to see her with her defenses down again.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI, or any of its characters.

**A/n:** Thanks to everyone who reviewed. The last couple of chapters were really case intensive, so I decided to show a little shift comradery. Don't worry there's still some case info. I hope ya'll enjoy it, and as always, let me know if there are any spelling mistakes. One note, the word o'l for oil is not a mistake. I wanted it to sound like it is said. If you can think of a better way, let me know. Oh, and the movie of course is "Best Little Whore House In Texas" which I've always liked. And the Queue refers to Netflix, which I am in love with.

* * *

**Chapter 14**

Sara yawned and stretched, turned over and snuggled into Gil's side. This, right here, was her favorite time of day. His arm wrapped around her, and she smiled into his chest hair. She loved the scratchy feeling of it on her face.

"Hmm, good morning." He murmured.

"Good…" she was struck by a yawn before she could get out. "…morning." They were silent for a few minutes, then Sara asked. "So, how did your case go yesterday? I meant to ask last night, but, ah… we got a little distracted.

"Luckily we wrapped it up pretty quickly. Guy thought he'd play a prank on his high school nemesis at their reunion." He chuckled, and she smiled. It was a sound she wished she heard more often. "He slipped some crushed up Viagra into the guys drink, hoping to cause an embarrassing reaction when the guy got up to make his speech. He was the class valedictorian, and football hero. What he didn't know was that the guy was on heart medication. He keeled over in the bathroom. If that wasn't bad enough, the guy tried to hide the body in the trunk of his car." He sighed. "I wish they were all that witless. So, how was your day?"

"Well, I got to visit a male version of The Ranch. You should have seen this place. Just imagine penis shaped wind chimes, garden statuary depicting men doing all the things you'd expect to find at a male brothel, and a Madam that would put Miss Mona to shame." She laughed.

"Miss Mona?" he questioned.

She sat up, looking at him aghast. "The Best Little Whore House in Texas?" At his continued silence, she sputtered. "Dolly Pardon and Bert Reynolds, she's Miss Mona, the kind hearted Madam of the Chicken Ranch, he's the laid back Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd who's in love with her. Melvin P. Thorpe, a televangelist, played by Dom Deluise tries to shut down the ranch, so to try and save her home, the sheriff asks her to shut down, and she agrees, but then the annual college football celebration comes up, and the Aggies win. Miss Mona doesn't want to let down the boys, so she agrees to open up just for them, but Thorpe sneaks in with his cameras and discovers them all in varying degrees of debauchery." He still looked blank. "Anyway, in the end, she has to close the Chicken Ranch, and she decides to leave Ed Earl for his own good, but he won't hear it, and convinces her to marry him.

"Okay Honey, You've convinced me. I'll…" he was interrupted by the shriek of their alarm. "I'll add it to our Queue as soon as I get the chance." He got up, and she admired his nude body before he slipped on his robe. "Now, how about some breakfast?"

She grinned. "And where exactly should we go?"

"How about…" For the second time they were interrupted, this time by his cell phone. Picking it up, and looked at who was calling. "Catherine." She nodded, and got up and headed into the bathroom. After a quick shower, she wrapped a towel around herself and walked back into the bedroom. She could smell the coffee brewing, and headed towards the kitchen. He was just pouring a cup. He fixed it the way she liked it, and handed it to her.

"Why do I get the feeling that our leisurely breakfast is out?" She warmed her hands on the mug and watched as he fixed his own cup.

"Breakfast isn't out; it just won't be as private as I had planned. That was Catherine. She says it's been forever since the whole crew got together, and since we never know if we'll be able to in the morning, she thinks we should all get together tonight." He smiled at her look of consternation.

"Well, it's a fine time for her to want to bond. I wonder what's behind this. Wait, she obviously didn't expect you to tell me this, so is she going to try to give me a…" she was interrupted by her cell. "Ah, I guess she is."

She went back to the bedroom, closely followed by Grissom. Flipping open the phone, she answered. "Hi Catherine, what's up with the early call?"

"Hey Sara, I was thinking this morning that it had been so long since we'd all gotten together and touched base. I was hoping that you could meet us at Frank's for breakfast before we go into work."

"Sure Catherine. What time?" Sara loosened the towel and sitting down on the bed, raised it up and began toweling her hair.

"I was thinking around nine. I'm pretty sure everyone else is coming. The only maybe was Grissom. I tell you, that man was always reclusive, but lately he's become almost a hermit. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I ran into him earlier this week on a blind date."

"Grissom was on a date? What'd she look like?" She looked over at Grissom with a teasing smile as she said this, only to lose the smile when she saw where he was looking. The towel she had been drying her hair with had slipped completely off, and his eyes were glued to her bare torso.

She heard Catherine saying something about his date not showing up, so that she didn't know what she looked like. "So will you be there." Catherine asked.

Watching Grissom slowly walking over to her, she could barely come up with a response. "Uh, sure Catherine, I-I'll be there… though I may be a little late." She hung up without a goodbye.

By now Grissom had reached her side. He leaned down and whispered in her hear. "Oh yeah, I think we'll both be late."

* * *

Catherine looked at her phone and sighed. If she didn't know better, she'd think that Sara wasn't alone. But, did she really know better? Sara had been a lot happier lately, and though that could be attributed to many things, and not necessarily a man, but she couldn't shake the feeling that one was involved. It seemed as though everyone's love life was going better then hers. She looked around the empty house. Lindsey was on ski trip, and her mom was staying at Sam's. She said she felt closer to him there, and as he'd left the ranch to her in his will, she had every right to. Not wanting to stay in the empty house, she gathered up her purse and headed out to her car. If she left now she'd get to Frank's a little early, but that was okay. Climbing into her car, she tried to ignore the reason that she was in this mood. She'd woken up feeling good, and it had seemed like a great idea to get everyone together for breakfast, but her mood had taken a downward turn when she called Warrick and Tina had answered the phone. She refused to acknowledge why exactly that had made her so unsettled. Deciding to get into a better mood, she thought about how she was going to get Sara to admit she was seeing someone.

* * *

Sara walked into Frank's fifteen minutes after nine, and saw that everyone, except Grissom was there. Of course she didn't expect to see him, as she'd just left him, and he wouldn't be coming for another few minutes. She walked over to the table just in time to overhear Nick telling everyone about his and Grissom's case the day before. Smiling, she slid into the booth beside Greg. Catherine was sitting directly across from her in the six top booth, Nick beside her by the window. 

"… and of course the guy denied it, but we knew that the evidence would bear out our theory. I mean, the guy had the prescription in his pocket, and had left his finger prints all over the glass that he'd doctored. We just had to keep him busy until we got everything processed. Slap, Bam, Bang we got our guy." He laughed and high-five'd Warrick. "So, Warrick told us all 'bout your little trip out to, what was it called again, Manny's Man Haven? What did you think of the décor?"

"I- thought it was appropriate to the type of business it was, and aside from the décor, the house was very nice." She looked at Catherine. "Did you find out if your case was connected that that robbery you're working?"

"MO's the same; it took place only a couple of blocks away from the first, and just like in that one, evidence is elusive." She sighed. "I just hope there doesn't have to be another one before we can catch the culprit."

"Buck up Catherine, now that I'm on the case with you, we're sure to wrap it up, and recover the Dame's jewels in no time." He gave her an exaggerated wink.

Sara looked at Catherine questioningly, "What's this about jewels?"

"The victim in this last case was relieved of some precious stones. You remember that case we worked with Lois O'Neil? Well, this ladies jewelry box would give hers a run for its money. Still, the surveillance cameras caught nothing, and all we could pull was some smudged prints." She looked up as the waitress came over. They had told her that they were waiting on someone before they ordered.

"You guys ready now?" She asked, popping her bubble gum.

"Uh, not yet, we're still waiting on someone, but I'm sure Sara would like something to drink." Catherine answered.

"Oh- sure, I'll take some orange juice." She said looking at the waitress, giving Catherine a clear view of her neck, which just happened to have a thumb sized hickey on it. When she turned back, Catherine was giving her an odd look. She was saved from asking what was up, when Grissom came in the door. She turned to the waitress with a relieved look. "Good, here comes our last member. We should be ready to order in a couple of minutes."

Grissom came up and slid into the booth beside Catherine, that being the last available seat. "Sorry I'm late; I had a couple of things that needed my undivided attention at home. What are we talking about?"

Warrick spoke up from the other side of Greg. We were just catching up on what everyone's working on, but I'm sure you already know all that, so why don't we go on to a new subject?"

"Yeah, "Catherine chimed in. "Sara, Greg was telling me that his cousin was in town, and that he wanted to fix you up with him. I think you should tell him if you're available or not. You know, I'm sure that if you're seeing someone, he'll understand." Her eyes twinkled as she said this.

Sara stared mutely at Catherine, her mind working to come up with a satisfactory answer. She hadn't given much thought about this since Grissom had mentioned the possibility, and she didn't know if she should go along with it, or tell them that she was seeing someone, and so couldn't go out with him. She felt a nudge on her foot, and surreptitiously glanced at Grissom, who was studying his menu. He gave a tiny wink. Looking at everyone else at the table, she came to a sudden decision. "Sure, I'd love to go out with him. Maybe for lunch, if we're not too busy." Looking at Greg she grinned at his nonplused expression. "Why don't you tell me all about him?"

"Uh- okay, he's about my height, maybe a little taller. People tell us we look alike, so you know he's handsome." He laughed, and looked around the table.

"How long is he going to be in town?" Sara asked, stealing a glance at Grissom.

"Until Sunday, but he's thinking of moving out here, so if you guys hit it off, you don't have to worry about a long distance relationship."

Sara was about to respond, when the waitress showed up to take their orders. Sara looked around to see who was going to go first, but Nick, Catherine, and Warrick seemed to have been struck dumb. They were all staring at her like she'd just announced that she'd been abducted by aliens. Grinning she turned to the waitress. "I'll have a blueberry waffle, with maple syrup, and a fruit cup." She looked at Grissom, and found that he was studying the menu. "Uh Gris, you should know what they have by now, why don't you go ahead and order, while the guys gather their wits. They seem to be scattered about them." At this, Catherine jolted, and turned to the waitress.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah Gil, you go first." She too looked down at a menu, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. She looked at Nick, and nudged him with her elbow. He blinked and looked at her. She raised her eyebrows, indicating the waitress. He in turn, kicked Warrick in the shin. Warrick jumped, and kicked him back in reflex. By this time, both Grissom and Greg had given their orders. Scrambling to catch up, Catherine ordered oatmeal and toast. Could she be wrong about Sara seeing someone? Or maybe, she was seeing someone, but it wasn't exclusive. Sara and Greg were discussing the details of the date, and Grissom was offering his opinion of the best place to go for lunch. Surly she'd entered some sort of bizarro world. During the rest of breakfast they discussed a variety of things, but Sara's acceptance of the date was on every mind, but two. They were busy thinking about how fun it was to pull one over on some of the best investigative minds in the country.

* * *

Warrick and Sara stood across from each other, the lighted layout table, laden with evidence from the case between them. In front of Sara was a list of everyone that they had questioned. "So we have, Miles Mason, the victims' lover. Mae Riley, his ex-girlfriend who he abandoned, leaving her pregnant. Her sister, Sally Riley. James Nelson, loan shark who was owed money by the victim. Spencer Bergh, his roommate. His most recent girlfriend, Janet Freely. The waitress, Sandy Temple, she ran when we wanted to question her, and lied about what she knew." Sara listed off. 

"Yeah, the murder weapon is most likely a nail file, but not just your ordinary, everyday nail file. It would have to be heavy enough to penetrate not only the chest cavity, but the stomach, and genitals. Also, it was decorated with glass jewels. Now, I did do a quick internet search, and found a site for glass nail files, decorated with glass jewels depicting different pictures. Only thing is, we don't have the actual murder weapon, just trace evidence that it was a file, so we can't get a warrant for the company's customer list. The fact that we suspect that the weapon was a nail file suggests that the killer was a woman, but it could have been a man who had access to a woman's nail kit. Basically, unless we can catch someone with a likely weapon, this is a dead end." Warrick sighed and propped his hands on the side of the table, allowing his head to hang down.

"Was there anyone else that we've met that would have a reason to want Johnson dead? It would seem to be a crime of passion… but it could also be someone wanting it to look that way." Sara looked up as Nick walked in.

"Hey guys, slow night, you guys need any help?" He quirked an eyebrow at first Sara, then Warrick.

"You know Handsome, you might just be able to help." Warrick turned to him with interest. "I've had this idea playing in my head. We need to find out if one of our suspects has nails that would be a possible match to our trace, but we don't want to alert her to the fact that we're checking her out. Her name is Janet Freely. She works at…" He pulled a file towards him, "Glacier, that new restaurant that's all glass, from the tables and chairs, to the walls. The ones in the bathroom are frosted, and I hear they keep it pretty cold in there all the time. Maybe you could go in there, sit in her section, flirt a little. Compliment her nails. She hasn't met you, so she shouldn't think you're on the investigation. I already called. She's working until five."

"Huh, well I guess it beats searching dumpsters. What exactly do you want to know?" Nick looked interested.

"Just what color her nails are, you know if they need a lot of maintenance. Give her the good 'ole boy Texas routine." Warrick's Texan twang when he said this made Sara chuckle.

When Nick responded, he thickened is accent so much that Sara's chuckle turned into a belly laugh. "Why, she'll never know what hit her. She'll spill like o'l from an o'l rig"  
Shaking her head, Sara looked back down at her list. Then a thought hit her. "You know, there is someone else who had motive, and could have had opportunity. Manny Rhodes."

"Hey, you got that right. Because of Johnson, she was losing one of her most popular guys, plus she hadn't been paid for the services he'd been rendering. I'll get in touch with Brass, get him to bring her in." Warrick flipped open his phone and called Brass. He filled him in and when he got off the phone, he told them that Brass was just going to head out there.

"Probably a good idea. A call might spook her." Turning to Nick, she patted him on the shoulder. "Well cowboy, time for you to go out and get yourself a girl." Smiling, he saluted and walked out the door. Looking at Warrick she asked, "So, what are we going to do?"

Raising his eyebrow, and doing his best Grissom imitation, he answered. "Wait."


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI or any characters therein. The story and other characters are mine. 

**A/n:** Okay I can't believe I got this done, and it's only a day late. I know it's short, and I'm not sure about the end, but I was sick most of the week, and this was all I could get done. As always, please review and let me know what you thought.

* * *

**Chapter 15**

Nick walked into the restaurant, and realized right away that he would never choose to come here voluntarily. How anyone could actually stand to sit here and eat a relaxing meal was beyond him. The temperature was hovering in the low fifties and the seats looked to be far from comfortable. Ice. It was the theme of the restaurant, and boy did they like it. Fake icicles hung from every surface, and there was fake snow on the floor. It may be an interesting place to come in the summer, but in the dead of winter, even in Nevada it wasn't the place to be. The hostess came up and he had to admit that she looked kind of cute in her Eskimo outfit. A fur trimmed hood surrounded her blond curls and the fur lined suede parka stopped just above the knee. Her feet were clad in fur lined boots, and she wore slim suede gloves on her hands. "Good evening sir. Welcome to Glacier, how many in your party?"

"Howdy Ma'am." Nick gave her a smile. "Just one thank you. Um, is it possible to be seated in Janet's section? My friend ate here the other night, and he said she treated him right." Nick broadened his smile, and winked.

"Sure, right this way." She led him back to the back of the restaurant, and showed him to booth for two. "I'm sorry. This is the smallest table we have."

"That's all right Darlin'. It looks mighty fine." He continued to smile at her as he sat.

She placed his menu in front of him. "Okay well, your waitress will be with you in a moment. Would you like to order a drink while you wait?" She didn't look to want to hang around, and since she wasn't the one he was here to see, he replied in the negative.

"No Sugar, I'll be just fine until my waitress gets here." She smiled and started back to the front of the house. On her way she stopped a waitress, and leaned in to whisper to her. They both glanced his way, then the waitress came toward him. She smiled and looked down at him.

"Good evening. My name is Janet, and I'll be you waitress tonight. Darlene tells me that you requested my section. I hope you're not disappointed in the service."

"Oh, I'm sure I won't be, Honey. Why don't you tell me what the specials are?" He noticed that her uniform was similar to the hostess', the only difference being the color, whereas the hostess had been wearing ice blue, hers was jade green. Unfortunately, she also wore the gloves. How was he going to comment on her nails, when he couldn't see them?

"Sure, first we have an Alaskan King Salmon, grilled and served on a bed of wild rice with seasonal vegetables. Then, we have braised short ribs, served with potato strings, and baked beans." This was said in a brisk professional voice, then she broke into a smile, winked, and said. "You look like a steak and potatoes man, so I would recommend our Porterhouse steak with giant baked potato, stuffed with cheese, butter, and sour cream."

Nick's first thought was, sounds like a heart attack on a plate. But, he was supposed to be charming this woman, so ordering what she recommended seemed the best way to go. "That sounds fine Sugar. Why don't you brink be a big ol' glass of iced tea to go with it."

She nodded, and went off to place his order. He looked around the restaurant and noticed that it was pretty busy for a place that could freeze your ears. Either the food was excellent, or there was something about the place that he was missing. If it was the food, he'd prefer to get it to go. He did notice that his seat wasn't as cold as he would think it would be, but that didn't really make up for his freezing hands. He saw that near the middle of the dinning room there was a raised stage. Maybe that had bands play on occasion. Before he realized it, Janet was heading back to his table with his tea, and a basket of something. She sat the tea and the basket down in front of him, and at his enquiring look, explained what was in the basket.

"It's jalapeño poppers. I'm surprised your friend didn't mention them. It's what we serve, instead of bread, or tortilla chips. Helps to keep you warm, not that you look like you need them."

Nick decided to take that as a compliment, though he was far from it. At her suspicious look, he figured she was asking herself why he wouldn't have been told about the starters. "Well, he didn't mention those. I guess he was too taken with the company."

"Aw, aren't you sweet. But, I can guarantee that he was probably more taken with the show, then with me."

Shit, what show? This is what he hated about spontaneous investigations. He liked to have time to research a subject. He decided some sweet talking was needed. "Sweetie, I'm sure the show doesn't hold a candle to your gracious presence." She looked skeptical, and he wondered if he was pushing this good ol' boy routine a little too hard, but then she smiled.

"Well Darlin', you're about to find out for yourself which is the most memorable." She looked at her watch and started counting down from ten, looking toward the stage. When she got to five, four women dressed in little more than long t-shirts, ran up on to the stage. As the countdown ended, water started spraying from spouts from the ceiling, and the girls began dancing around to the music that had started when they'd stepped on stage. He stared aghast as the girls became completely soaked, and he saw that they wore nothing under those t-shirts. He understood the concept of wet t-shirt contests, had enjoyed a good many of them in his fraternity days, but he didn't understand why any woman would put herself through that in such a cold environment. Glancing down to try and clear his mind, he noticed that Janet had rested her hands on the table. Figuring he wouldn't get a better chance, he moved his glass and knocked it over, making sure the majority of the tea landed on her hands. He'd fastened his eyes on the undulating girls during this, so that when she gasped, he jerked back, and pasted an appalled look on his face.

"Ah, Honey. I'm so sorry! I guess I didn't see where my hand was reaching. Here, let me help you." She was trying to pull off her gloves, not an easy task; due to the tea soaking into the suede and making them cling to her hands. Finally, her hands were free, and he made sure to note that her nails were well manicured, and painted a pale pink. Well, that sucked for Sara and Warrick. It didn't mean the murder weapon didn't belong to her, she could have had a manicure since the murder, and changed her nail color, but it didn't make it any clearer whether she was the killer or not. She started to reassure him.

"It's okay. Really, I've got another pair in my locker. Accidents happen, and I always like to be prepared." Deciding to try and get as much info as he could, he grabbed her hands and warmed them in his.

"Well, at least you'll have an interesting story to tell your boyfriend, about the clod that dumped his tea all over you because he couldn't take his eyes off the dancin' girls"  
He continued to rub her hands between his.

"Uh, I don't have a boyfriend at the moment. Turns out my last one had a few, shall we say preferences, which I couldn't accommodate. Um, well I'd better go get those spare gloves, and your food should be up soon." She took her hands from between his, and picked up the wet gloves. "I'll get something to clean this mess up, and get you another tea." She turned and hurried toward the back. Nick glanced toward the stage and saw that the girls had left. A man was walking by him on his way, he presumed to the men's room.

He called out. "Hey, how often do the girls do that?" He said, indicating the stage.

Barely stopping, the guy said, "Every hour, on the hour." He was gone before Nick could ask anything further.

He murmured to himself, "I hope they at least have good health insurance." A few minutes later, he saw Janet heading his way, being followed by a guy in an apron. She sat the tea she was carrying down in front of him, and the guy sat down what could only be termed, a real man's dinner. The steak was the size of a large plate, and the potato was as large as ladies size ten shoe. It also came with a plate of garlic bread. He'd eaten a few of the poppers, and so wasn't very hungry. His chest actually constricted at the thought of eating all that. Deciding on the spot that he'd gathered as much info as he would be able to and that there was no way he could sit here and eat even half of this food, he decided to pretend he was called away, and to get the food to go.

"Ah Honey, I'm sorry to do this to you, but my assistant just called, and there's a big problem that's come up a work. Is there anyway I can get this to go?"

"Um sure, it's a shame you can't stay." She smiled. The guy in the apron sighed, and picked the food back up. "We may have to divide it into two or three boxes, but we'll get it done. Did you want to get a dessert; we have a divine apple pie."

Nick thought for a minute, then thought, why not? "Sure, that'd be fineSugar. I'll need something to look forward to after dealing with this mess." And since this was on company time, he'd get reimbursed for it.

* * *

Nick walked into the break room and plopped the two heavy bags on the table. Sara and Grissom were sitting there. Grissom was doing a crossword, and Sara idly flipped through a magazine. "Well, that was a wash. If you guys are hungry, dig in." Sara through down her magazine and pulled out the three boxes in the first bag.

"Jeez Nick, how much did you order?" She opened the boxes and found that they were all filled with steak. "And why did you buy a whole cow?" With a disgusted grunt, she closed the lids and pushed them away.

"Darlin', I did what I had to do to get answers." He threw himself down in a chair.

Sara looked up at him. "Darlin'?" She asked a hint of mockery in her voice. Grissom looked on with a barely concealed smile, and a glint in his eye.

"Ah, sorry Sar. I guess it's a little hard to get out of character once you've immersed yourself. Anyway… hey, where's Warrick? I'd prefer to fill you guys in at the same time."

"He's talking to Brass. He should be here soon." No sooner had she finished this statement, then Warrick strolled in.

"Hey man, tell me you have some good news." He plopped down in a chair opposite Nick, and sighed.

Sara looked at him, her eyebrow cocked. "Why don't we start with your news?"

"Okay, if you insist. Well, Brass went out to the um… bordello, you know, to find Manny. Seems she's flown the coop. He was told that she had a family emergency back east, and had to leave immediately. Could be legit, but I wouldn't hold my breath." He pulled one of the food containers toward him, and opened it. "Whoa man. How much food did you order?"

Sara rolled her eyes. "I asked the same thing."

"Look, I did what I had to do. Janet recommended the steak and potato, and I thought, you know, why the hell not. How was I supposed to know how big it was?" He leaned back and rubbed his hands over his eyes. "Man, you should have seen this place. A real winter wonderland. And you know, every hour on the hour, these girls in nothing but long t-shirts run up on stage, and are sprayed with water. I tell you, I can't even imagine why someone would do job." He pointed the other bag of food. "There's a giant potato in there, with tons of cheese and sour cream, and don't ask me why, but I went ahead and let her add the apple pie to my togo order. How was I supposed to know she meant a whole pie?"

At the mention of the pie, Sara perked up. "Why didn't you mention a pie? Apple you say?" She dug around in the back and brought out the huge pie. "Mmm. Now this I can get behind."

"Well, help yourself. Do you guys want to know what I learned now?" Nick looked at the other two, while they busied themselves cutting up the pie.

"Uh, yeah man. What'd you find out?" Warrick asked.

"I couldn't conclusively rule her out. Her nails are painted a pale pink, but they were well manicured. She could've just changed nail polish." He watched as Sara served up a third piece of pie and sat it in front of Grissom. He noticed that it was smaller then the ones she and Warrick were eating. "I don't know where else you guys can go on that track."

Grissom looked down at his small piece of pie, and sighed. Pining slightly for the days when he didn't have someone watching his sugar intake so closely. Looking over to Sara while she ate her pie, and talked with Warrick on possible solutions to their problem, he reconsidered. He'd eat no sugar to have her sweetness in his life.

"So, our problem is how to get a DNA sample from Janet." Sara shook her head. "I don't know, maybe we can put her under surveillance and get something that she used for a comparison." She was startled by Grissom's voice.

"That's a way to go, but it would be better if you could get a sample with her compliance." All three stared at him.

"How can we do that?" Warrick questioned.

"First, compare the samples from the fingertips to the wound DNA, by her own account her tears were on his fingers, if it's a match, you've got your warrant." Warrick and Sara stared at each other dumbfounded.

"Did we do a DNA test on the sample on his fingertips?" Sara asked.

"No, I screwed up. Didn't even think about it." Warrick shook his head.

"If you screwed up, so did I." Sara commiserated.

"Neither one of you have screwed up yet. Now go." He smiled as Warrick and Nick sped out of the room. He looked back at Sara and saw that she was looking at him.

Sara smiled at him, then stood up and turned to leave. If she didn't get out of there soon, she may do something rash and reveal their secret. Before she left the room, she turned and said. "And don't touch anymore of that pie." His hand stopped in its process of pulling her leftover pie towards him. Giving her a rye smile, he slowly pushed it away.

"Yes ma'am." He saluted. She laughed and turned to follow the guys. Maybe this case would be over soon. Then she'd take a vacation day, and show him how just how much she appreciated him.

**TBC...**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI or any characters therein. The story and other characters are mine.

**A/n:** I don't actually know how long it takes to run a DNA test, as it never takes very long on the show. So forgive me if I am wrong in my timing. I hope you guys enjoy, and thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Please continue to do so.

* * *

**Chapter 16**

Warrick and Sara once again stood around the light table in the layout room. They'd dropped off the DNA samples, but those tests took hours, so they were going over all the evidence to pinpoint anything that would point to Janet being the killer. "Nothing! There's nothing here to indicate that she was anywhere near the crime scene." Warrick shook his head.

"You know we only have a weak suspicion that she was involved. Once we get the DNA results, maybe we'll catch a break, but we can't just drop everything else and stop looking at the only thing that doesn't lie. The evidence." Sara stretched, yawning and checked her watch. "Look, it's almost quitting time. I know it doesn't seem like we got much done today, but you know how it is. One day, the answers seem to fall from the sky, the next your sitting on your butt all day, waiting for results. Why don't we head on home, get some rest. When we come back in tonight, we'll have fresh eyes, and hey, the DNA results should be in."

Warrick looked around at all the evidence that was lying around. Nothing new was popping out at him. "Okay, you've got a point. Maybe I can surprise Tina with breakfast." He shrugged. "Couldn't hurt anyway, huh? Well, let's pack up this stuff."

Sara smiled and started gathering up evidence bags, and putting them back in the boxes.  
She knew exactly how she planned to relax. That is if a certain CSI could get off on time. He'd been stuck in his office all night, doing paperwork. She picked up one of the boxes, and Warrick picked up the other. They toted them down to the evidence locker, and stored them safely away. Closing the door, they started down the hall. Warrick peeled off at the locker room door, but Sara continued on, tossing over her shoulder that she'd see him tonight. Finally she arrived at her destination. Walking in, she noticed that he was deep in a pile of folders.

Closing the door with a soft click, she walked over to the desk, watched as he signed his name, and sighed. Closing the folder, he moved it to the other side of his desk, and without looking up, opened the next one, and said. "If you need my help with something, you're going to have to wait." He sounded tired. "I've put this off for too long, and if they don't get done tonight, Eckley will pay me a visit." He looked up with a rueful smile. "I don't think that would lessen any of my stress."

"I just wanted to let you know that I was heading home. Give me a call before you leave, and I'll have something to eat waiting on you." Sara leaned over the desk and whispered. "And just maybe I can find something to do that will help with your stress level."

Grissom peered at her over his glasses as she walked out of the door. Sighing, he went back to the paperwork.

* * *

Two hours later, he called her to let her know that he wouldn't be home for a while, due to Eckley calling a meeting of supervisors. Frowning, she hung up the phone. She looked around the kitchen at the preparations for their meal. Shaking her head, she started putting everything away. She made herself a bowl of cereal and went to bed.

* * *

Grissom strolled down the hall after getting out of his meeting with Eckley. He could never understand why he was always being pulled away from the important business of solving crimes, to handle bureaucracy issues. It made him long for the days before he was a supervisor. All he had to worry about then was gathering evidence. It would also make other areas of his life easier. No one blinked twice at colleagues of equal standing being involved in a relationship. Make one of them a supervisor over the other, and suddenly your life took on a secrecy of Machiavellian proportions. Glancing at his watch, he saw that the meeting had lasted over two hours. All that, just to discuss the problem of overtime, which Eckley knew very well from his time as day's supervisor, was unavoidable. He still had a bit of paperwork to get through, but decided that it could wait. All he wanted right now was to snuggle up with Sara and get some sleep.

* * *

Warrick strolled into the lab at fifteen until ten. He wasn't surprised to run into Sara coming out of the locker room. "Hey girl, you get some rest today?" 

Sara grinned and tucked her hair behind her ear. "After a fashion. It took me awhile to get to sleep this morning, then not long after that I was awoken by… a lovely dream. It took me awhile to get to sleep after that, and then when the alarm went off, I couldn't make myself get out of bed. I can't wait until after this case is over so that I can take a day off. I need some quality relaxation time."

"I hear ya. Well, let's go see if Wendy can give us some good news." Warrick and Sara walked into a DNA lab, and gathered around Wendy as she worked on a case from day shift.

"The results for your case aren't out yet. "You know, this won't go any faster with you guys hovering in here."

Warrick settled himself on a stool, and grinned. "No, but we have no where else to be right now. What, you don't like our company?"

Wendy gave him a dry look and rolled her eyes. "Okay, suit yourselves. But I'm busy, so don't expect any scintillating conversation." They had been sitting there for about twenty minutes, discussing the case, when the printer started printing out some results. Warrick made a grab for the paper, but Wendy snatched it from him. "I don't know how things used to work, but now all results go through me first. She turned and laid the paper on the counter, reading it. She then signed it with a flourish, and handed it to Warrick.

Warrick and Sara both read the results together, and both let out disappointed sighs. "Are you sure this in right?" Warrick asked, waving the paper at her.

"Of course I am. The DNA from the vics wounds was not the same as the DNA from the dried tears on his fingertips." Wendy gave them a sympathetic smile, and turned back to her work.

"Damn!" Warrick exploded. "Now we're back to square one." Just then his phone chirped. Answering it, he listened for a couple of minutes, and began to smile. Hanging up, he turned to Sara. "We may have caught a break after all. That was Brass. Manny Rhodes called in and found out we were looking for her. She's coming back right away, and will meet us at the station as soon as she gets in."

Sara studied him, her eyebrow raised. "You know this might not be a good development. If she's willing to come in, she either didn't do it, or she's positive that there's nothing to connect her to the scene."

"Ah, come on girl, don't rain on my parade. You know as well as I do that suspects think that they're smarter than the police all the time. She doesn't know that we have DNA evidence. She'll probably be willing to give us a sample, feeling that she's completely safe." They exited the lab, and headed down the hall. "I don't want to think of anything else but getting that sample. We'll deal with the results when they come in."

"Okay, if that's what you want, then I'm on board. So, what do we do until Brass calls?" Sara paused by the evidence locker, and looked at him.

"We go over every piece of evidence, looking for anything that connects Manny with Johnson." Sara shrugged and followed him to get the evidence.

They received the call five hours later, and made their way to the station as quickly as possible. So far, they hadn't found anything connecting the two, but Warrick was sure that it was there somewhere. Sara was less sure, but not having any better suggestions, she was willing to look at Manny as the most logical suspect.

They walked into the station and saw Brass standing at the end of the hall. He gestured to them, and they walked up to him. "She's in interview room two. She's cooperating freely, and has even offered to give a DNA sample."

Warrick, who had brought his kit, raised it up and said. "We'll take her up on that offer." They turned and followed Brass into the room, and got the DNA sample taken without further ado. Warrick decided to run it over to Wendy, and let Sara do the interviewing. Sara smiled as her left and turned to Manny.

"Ms. Rhodes. We would like to know where you were last Tuesday night from, say… six in the afternoon until two Wednesday morning."

Manny drummed her nails on the table, and Sara noticed that they were long, and painted a fiery shade of red. "I was at home."

Sara smiled. "Well… can anyone verify that?"

"If you mean, was anyone with me, then… no." Manny kept her eyes on Sara, and didn't blink.

Changing tacks, Sara asked. "Do you do your own nails?"

"I am a woman with certain standards, but I'm also a frugal woman. I have my nails done professionally once a month, but I do the regular maintenance myself." She studied her nails. "I do good work if I do say so myself."

"Yes, your nails are very nice. When was the last time you had them done?"

"Last month. My standing appointment is next week. Why? What does this have to do with anything?" She looked from Sara to Brass, who had remained quite so far.

"I'm just curious, one woman to another. What kind of nail file do you use?" Manny looked at Sara's short, unpainted nails, and smirked.

"One woman to another, I buy my nail files from a website. They're made of Crystal glass. Would you like to see one?" She reached into her purse and pulled out a pink file cover. From inside the cover, she pulled out a file, and laid it in front of Sara. Sara saw that the file itself was about five inches long, the handle added another few inches and was smoother then the file itself. It was adorned with the initials M. R. and a rose, in small glass gems. None of the gems were missing.

"Is this the only one you have?" Sara looked up from the file.

"No. I ordered ten of them, all with my initials, but with different designs." Manny rolled her eyes. "What? Do you want to see all of them?"

"That would be helpful." Sara shrugged.

"Well, the rest are at home. Am I allowed to get them myself, or do I have to get my assistant to bring them to me?"

"An officer will escort you to pick them up. We wouldn't want one being left behind by mistake." Sara looked to Brass. "Do you have someone available now?"

"You know what?" Brass smiled. "I'll escort her myself. You know, make sure nothing disappears before we can take a look at it."

He got up and escorted her out of the room. Sara exited and walked toward the vending machines. She stood and looked at the snack machine like it was suddenly going to sprout something she actually wanted. Moving over to the refrigerated machine, she advanced the carousel looking for anything appetizing. Why was it you could be so hungry, and find nothing to your liking? Finally she gave up and headed for her car. Sighing, she took out her phone and called the one person who might be able to temp her with something. Trying to stifle a yawn, she didn't succeed, and when he finally answered she was in the middle of a whopper. "Hhhhiii… Hi. Sorry. Why is it that when you try to suppress a yawn, it turns out bigger then it would have been to begin with? No, don't answer that. I'm sure you have an answer, but I don't really want to know it. What I want is for you to help me figure out what I want to eat."

"Well, that sounds like a serious undertaking. Why don't you give me an example of your alternatives?" He sounded guarded, and she was quick to guess what was wrong.

"You're not alone are you?" She grinned into the phone, suddenly feeling a lot less tired.

"That would be correct." His voice became more distant, and she realized he was addressing the person he was with. "I'm sorry Greg. It's a fellow bug enthusiast, with some ideas for a new study. Can you give me just a few minutes?" Sara faintly heard Greg say that it was okay. Then Grissom was back. "So, what is it I can help you with?"

"Fellow bug enthusiast? That's stretching it a bit far. I like your butterfly and moth collections, and your spiders, but the rest sort of creep me out." She laughed. "And the only study I'm interested in right now, is figuring out what to eat that will tide me over until I can get home and find a proper breakfast. I have over an hour to wait for Brass to get back with Manny Rhodes, and frankly, I'm at a loss with how I'm going to fill my time. I'm also very tired, due to the fact that someone woke me up in the middle of a glorious dream in the middle of the day, then woke me once more before the alarm went off. All so he could have a little stress relief. Now, what do you propose I eat?"

"First of all, stress can be a detriment to ones health, and copulation has been known to be a great stress reliever for many species. As for the diet, I would suggest something with lots of protein." Grissom turned his chair away from Greg.

Greg stretched out is his chair. Great, now he had to listen to talk about the sex life of some kind of bug. It didn't help that that part of his life wasn't going as smoothly as he'd like. In fact, the last date he'd had was so long ago, he couldn't remember her name. He did remember she'd said it wouldn't work out because their schedules were too different. Looking over at Grissom, he sighed. He'd heard from Warrick that even Grissoms' love life was going better than his. Between his injuries, which were at least feeling better, and his love life, life sucked right now. And now, he was worried about the coroners' inquest. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong, but he felt terrible about taking a person's life. Tuning back in, he heard Grissom say something about certain species needing more rest after copulation then others, and decided that he had to get out of there. Waving to get Grissoms' attention, he mimed that he would be leaving. "I won't be much longer, if…"

Greg cut him off. "It's okay. I'll think I'll go and check in with Catherine. See if there's anything new with our case." Giving a little salute, he turned and walked out the door. He was half way down the hall when he ran into Warrick. "Hey, I thought you were over at PD questioning a suspect."

"I was just running a DNA sample to the lab. Wendy said she'll put a rush on it, but it'll still be a while. Sometimes this job is one big waiting game. I've been trying to get in touch with Sara, but I keep getting her voice mail. Hey, by the way. When is your cousin going on his date with her?"

"I don't know, man. He says his needs time to prep for it, but I think he's just having so much fun; he doesn't want to pull himself away. I'd hate to disappoint Sara, but it may be a while before he's ready." They turned a corner and ran into Nick. "Hey Nick, whatcha doing?"

"Nothing really. This place is dead tonight. You guys want to go out for some lunch?" He turned to them, and spread his arms wide.

"Sure, should we ask Catherine?" Greg questioned.

"She's getting caught up with some paperwork. She said she'd have something at her desk, what about Grissom?" Nick asked, his eyes shifting between the other two.

"Uh, he was on the phone with a fellow bug guy, taking about copulating and eating habits. He could probably talk for hours." Greg answered.

Warrick grimaced. "Yeah, I love the guy, but he has some odd ideas of entertainment." He gave a dry laugh. "Who am I to talk, guy's probably getting luckier then I am these days."

"Luckier then you, Mr. Married Guy?" Greg teased. "How is that possible?"

Warrick shook his head as they walked to the car. "Believe me. If I were to put odds on who would get lucky first, me or Grissom, I'd have to put my money on Grissom."

Greg grinned. "My money would be on the bugs. We'd know if Grissom was getting some." They all laughed.

**TBC…**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI or any characters therein. The story and other characters are mine. 

**A/n:** Wow, short chapter I know, but it was like pulling teeth to get this much. The next chapter should go easier, but this one just didn't want to get written. Please let me know what you think.

**Chapter 17**

**

* * *

**"Well, are you happy now? All your talk of copulation has scared Greg off." Grissom teased. 

"My talk of copulation! Listen here Dr. Grissom, of the two of us, one has their mind set on food, the other has HIS mind set on sex. If you're wondering who's who, my stomach just gave such a loud growl I think the people sitting at the traffic light heard it."

"Hold on a second." Grissom got up and closed his door and locked it. Sitting back down, he picked the phone back up. "I'm back, which car are you in?"

Confused, Sara looked around. "Um, the Denali with the tan interior. Why?"

"Look behind the driver's seat." Grissom listened as she maneuvered around, picturing the contortions she have to put her body through to reach back there.

"Okay, I-I, what is this?" She picked up the small cooler, turned back around, and settled herself back into the seat. She opened it and found an apple and a granola bar. It wasn't much but it would take the edge off her hunger. "How did you know this was here?"

"Nick and I used that car the other day and I had tossed the cooler in there in case I got hungry. Turns out I didn't, but I forgot to take it out of the car. So, now that we've settled your problem, can we talk about what to do about mine?

"Sure, what are your suggestions?" Sara took a bite out of the apple and reclined the seat, so that she could be comfortable while she ate.

"Well, I was thinking, when we get home why don't I run you a bath, put in some of that lavender bath oil that you like so much."

"Umm, sounds good so far. What next?" She asked, getting more comfortable in her seat.

"Then, I'd undress you, taking care to remove each item of clothing slowly." He whispered softly.

"Undress me huh?" Sara murmured.

"Well, it wouldn't be a very relaxing bath if you're wearing your clothes. Then I was thinking that you could undress me."

As Sara listened to him outline everything they would do, she felt something nagging at the back of her mind. There was something to do with the case, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Then when the water starts to cool…" She listened to him with only half an ear. Clothes, something about clothes. What was it about clothes that made her think of the case?

"Then I'll carry you into the bedroom…" Suddenly it hit her.

"Oh my God! Why wasn't he wearing clothes?" It was Grissom's turn to be confused.

"What? What do you mean?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry Honey. But I just remember something that could be vital to the case. I have to go, but I want to do everything you were just describing, and more, so don't forget it. Love you." And she was gone. Grissom hung up the phone with a small smile. That was the problem with being involved with such an intelligent woman. She was always thinking. Then again, one of the best things was she was always thinking. Sighing, he went back to his paperwork.

After Sara hung up with Grissom, she immediately dialed Warrick. He picked up on the third ring. "Why was he undressed?" She asked without preamble.

"Who, the vic? I-I don't know, for some reason I forgot all about that." Warrick thought back. "Have we looked at his clothes?"

"No. He wasn't wearing them, so they weren't my top priority. Did they have any blood on them?" Sara readjusted the seat, and fastened her seat belt.

"I don't know, but Nick's here, and he was the one who collected them. I'll ask him." He turned to Nick who was looking at him with curiously. "Hey, when you collected the clothes from the dumpster, did they have blood on them?"

"Not that I can recall. No, I don't believe they did, because I did look over them over before I bagged them, and there weren't any obvious blood stains. Why?"

"Hold on. Sara, Nick says no." Warrick pulled out his wallet and through down some money.

"That means he was naked when he was stabbed. Why? He'd already left Miles. I'm heading back to the lab, I'll meet you there. I'll call Brass and fill him in, let him know it may be awhile before we get back to the station." Sara made a left and sped down the street, sailing under a yellow light.

"Yeah, I'll meet you there. I shouldn't be more then 10 minutes." He grabbed his jacket and hurried out to the car, Nick and Greg following him.

* * *

"Okay, so here are his clothes, and I didn't see any blood on them when I put them in the locker." Nick spread the clothes out on the table. 

"Well, let's take a closer look. Any trace could be from the dumpster they were in, but maybe we'll find something that will tell us we're looking in the right direction." Warrick handed a scope to Sara and took one for himself. After fifteen minutes of searching, they still hadn't found anything probative.

Sara put down her scope. "Okay, so we can't find any trace, but how do we explain the absence of blood? The only way TO explain it is that he wasn't wearing these clothes when he was stabbed. So, why would he take them off?"

"You know, he didn't have any defensive wounds. If he had been held at gun point, or even knife point, and forced to remove his clothes, do you think he would have allowed someone to stab him without putting up a fight? If someone had had a gun, why not shoot him?" Warrick shook his head. "There are just so many things about this case that don't make sense. The way it looks is that he took off his clothes in that alley, and was killed without expecting it, by someone whom he trusted. Or at least someone he didn't fear."

Sara's phone rang. Flipping it open, she saw that it was Brass. "Hey, are you back?"

"Yeah, we should be at the station in about ten minutes. How long do you think it will be before you get there?"

"I'll head over there now. Did everything go okay out there?" Sara waved to Warrick and the guys, and headed out the door.

"Oh fine, if you call being flashed by not one but two, well really well endowed guys, good. Oh, and being propositioned no less then three times." His dry laugh caused Sara to grin. "At least I'm assured if I ever decide to switch teams; I'll be able to interest someone."

Giggling, Sara assured him. "Well, speaking for our team, I'm here to tell you if you decided to switch you'd be missed."

"Ah, thank you ma'am. So, I'll see you in a few minutes?"

"Sure thing. In fact, I bet you I'll be there before you are." She hopped in the car and started it. "If you win, I'll buy you breakfast. If I win, you do the buying."

"You're on. See you in a few, and just so you know, I'm feeling really hungry."

"You're not the only one. See you." Sara hung up and accelerated out of the parking lot.

* * *

Sara was sitting in reception when Brass came through the door. "Traffic accident out on Boulder. Got caught in the traffic." He explained. 

"Doesn't matter. You owe me breakfast." She smiled, and turned to Manny who was standing next to him. "Did you get the files?"

"Yeah." She lifted a small make-up bag. "Do you want to see them?"

"Of course, follow me." She turned and headed down the hall, heading towards the interview room they had last been in.

Snapping on some gloves, she took the bag from her. She took out each file, one at a time. "I thought you said you ordered ten of these. There are only nine here." She looked up at her, her eyebrow raised.

"I did order ten, but I lost one last week." Manny didn't sound concerned.

Sara bagged the files that they had. "How did you lose it?"

Manny rolled her eyes. "I don't know. I noticed it missing, oh, on Sunday. But I hadn't used it in a couple of days, so I don't know when it went missing. All I know is when I went looking for it to fix a nail, it was gone."

Sara looked over at Brass, and he nodded towards the door. Out in the hall she sighed. "All of those files have all of their gems. If she killed him, it was with that other file, and without the DNA results, there's no way to prove that. If the DNA comes back, we can get warrant to search her house, otherwise there's nothing we can do." Her phone rang, and she looked at the number, which she didn't recognize. "Hello?"

"Ms. Sidle? This is Spencer Bergh." Sara smiled.

"Of course, what can I do for you?" She asked.

"Well, the other day, you know, when I was at the station." He sounded hesitant. "Well, I ran into someone, and we got to talking. Turned out, we both knew B.J. His name is Miles Mason. He said you'd already questioned him."

Sara frowned. "Yes, we did. Mr. Bergh, is there a reason for your call?"

"Well, after we got to talking, we discovered something. I remembered that I had seen B.J. arguing with a woman that I didn't recognize. Miles showed me a picture of his ex-boss, and I recognized her as the woman he'd been arguing with. I honestly just remembered seeing them. Does this help you?"

"It may just help at that, Spencer. Thank you for calling. Where did you see this argument?" Sara took out a notebook and a pen.

"Oh, well it was outside the house, I think it was on Monday morning. I didn't think much of it at the time, but when Miles mentioned that she was his boss, it sounded like something I should tell you about."

"This is good Spencer. Is there anyway you could come down and ID the woman in person?" Sara asked hopefully.

"Sure, as a matter of fact, Miles and I are at reception. We thought it might be best if we could talk to you in person." Sara smiled and began walking down the hall. Things might be starting to go her way.

**TBC...**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI or any characters therein. The story and other characters are mine.

**A/n:** I can't believe this chapter got done, almost on time. There should only be one more chapter after this. I think I've caught all the typos and mistakes, but if I didn't, please let me know. Please review. Oh, and yay for last nights episode. It put me in a very giddy mood.

**Chapter 18

* * *

**

Sara walked into reception and spotted Miles and Spencer sitting in the corner. Heading towards them, she smiled. "Hey guys. So Spencer, do you feel like looking at some photos?"

They looked at each other, then back at Sara. "That's what I came to do." Spencer answered. "Can Miles come with me?"

Sara slowly shook her head. "I'm sorry, but it's best if he stays here." Looking at Miles she said. "You know what she looks like, so you could telegraph in some way which picture is her. It won't take long for Spencer to look through the photos. Once he identifies someone, we'll get a lineup ready so he can identify the woman in the photo. If it turns out to be the one you think it is, it could be a great help."

Spencer nodded, and turned to Miles taking his hand. "I'll be out soon, and we can go get something to eat." He gave his hand a squeeze, and let it slid out of his hand. Sara took his arm and led him down the hall.

"So, I guess you two found you had something else in common." Sara said smiling.

Spencer laughed. "Yeah, I can hardly believe it. Not that I think it's a good thing, but it seems that B.J. being killed has led to me finding someone who I think I could really have something with. So, it's a blessing in disguise."

Sara gave his arm a squeeze. "I'm glad. You seem like someone who could use some good luck." She showed him into an interview room. "Why don't you sit down, and I'll get those photos for you."

She closed the door behind her and headed down the hall, stopping when she got to Brass. "We need to get a Polaroid of Manny, and five or six other similar looking women. I've got Spencer Bergh waiting in interview room three. He and Miles have gotten together, and in the process of talking, Spencer remembered seeing B.J. arguing with a woman outside of their house. They believe it was Manny. If he identifies Manny, then we won't have to wait on the DNA results to get a warrant."

"Do you think maybe this could be one or both of them trying to lay the blame on Manny, and throw the scent off themselves?" Brass asked, concerned.

"So far, not one bit of evidence leads to either of them, and if we find evidence that Manny is guilty, then it won't matter what they want. If Manny isn't guilty, then evidence will also prove that. Either way, this is a win, win situation." Sara insisted.

"I guess you're right. I'll get the photos and meet you in say, thirty minutes?" Sara nodded and watched as she disappeared down the hall. As he turned the corner, she took out her phone and dialed Warrick to fill him in on what was going on.

* * *

Warrick was happy with the news. "Wow, maybe we'll be able to wrap this case up before the weekend." Warrick thanked her and turned to Grissom and filled him in. 

"Good, have you heard back about the DNA yet?" Grissom

"Not yet, I was just about to go and check with Wendy about how much longer it would be. I'll catch you up later." He gave Grissom a salute, turned and walked out the door.

* * *

"Wendy girl, please tell me you have something." Warrick swung through the door singing. 

"Sorry, not yet. You know these things take time." She smiled at him. There was a sound at the door and they turned to see Catherine standing there, looking defeated.

"Hey guys. Wendy, please tell me you found something out about those samples I dropped off the other day." She leaned against the door.

"I've got the results, but I don't think they're going to be any help to you. All the blood samples came back as matches to the owners of the house, and were likely just incidental. You said yourself that it was such a small amount that it might not be probative."

Heaving a deep sigh, Catherine pushed herself away from the door. "Yeah, but a girl can hope. I just need one little bit of evidence in this case, but I'm denied everywhere I turn. Fingerprints come back to the owners; blood evidence comes back to the owners. They have surveillance, but it never catches anything. I've got such a headache from staring at the screen. I know there has to be something there, I just can't find it. Archie's on vacation, so it's just me, and it's driving me crazy!"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down." Warrick was concerned. "Look, I'm still waiting on these DNA results, and I have nothing to do right now, so why don't I come along and give you a fresh pair of eyes. If there's something there, you know I'll catch it."

"Really? That would be great. Greg's helped, but this has kinda become my own Everest. It would be good to have another pair of eyes. You know, I always said they were your best feature."

Warrick gave a slight bow. "Well then, my eyes are at your service." He was happy to see that some of the tension has left her shoulders, and she even gave a little laugh. He turned to Wendy and said, "Call me if the results come in." Then turned and followed Catherine to the A/V lab.

"Okay Spencer, I'm going to lay these photos out for you. If you recognize someone, just point to them. If you identify the woman you think is Manny, then we'll take you to pick her out of a line up, just to make sure. Are you ready?" Sara asked solemnly, sitting across from him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm ready." Sara laid out each photo one at a time. There were six in total. Three of them were of officers on the force, two were of women who were wanted for various crimes, and of course the sixth was Manny. All the women were blond, and of similar size.

Spencer studied each photo silently, slowly going over each one. He took his time, working his way down the row. He studied the photo of Manny the longest, then moved on to the last one in line. After a couple of minutes, he looked up, and put his hand on the one of Manny. He pushed it towards Sara. "This is her. She's the one I saw arguing with B.J."

"Thank you, the picture you've picked is of Manny Rhodes. Proprietor of Manny's Man Haven. I'm going to get that line-up set up, and if you can identify her there, you can go home. If not, well, we'll discuss what will happen then." Sara gathered the photos together, and walked out of the room. She found Brass outside of the line-up room. She nodded to him. "He picked out Manny. We can get the line-up ready."

"You know it's not necessary to have him do the line-up if he's already identified the photo. Not now anyway." He smiled.

"I know, I just want to make sure of this. We need that warrant." Brass nodded.

"I thought you'd say that, that's why I already have 'em lined up and ready to go." Sara shook her head with a smile.

"I'll go get Spencer. Get this over with." Sara spun around headed down the hall.

She reached the door, and poked her head in. "Spencer, we're ready. Come with me." He followed her down the hall, and Brass escorted him into the viewing room. Sara decided to stay in the hall. A few minutes later they came back out.

Brass shook Spencer's hand, thanked him and told him he could leave. After he was down the hall, Brass turned to Sara. "Well, he picked her out. I'll go get that warrant."

"Okay, I'll call Warrick and let him know." She took out her phone and dialed, watching as Brass disappeared around the corner. Warrick picked up on the second ring.

"Hey, what's going on?" he asked.

"Spencer picked her out of both the photo line-up, and the real one. Brass is getting the warrant for the ranch now. Do you have anything yet?" She moved to a chair against the wall, and sat down.

"Not… hold own, I've got another call coming in." She waited as he took the call. Within a couple of minutes he was back. "Bingo! The DNA on the vic was that of one Manny Rhodes. Let Brass know, and we should have an arrest with-in the hour."

Sara let out a sigh of relief, and ran to catch up with Brass. Halfway down the hall she realized she should probably call him. She dialed him and caught him just as he was getting off the phone. "Hey, we have a DNA match. Let's go tell Manny."

On her way back to interrogation, Sara couldn't help but think that something was off. But for the life of her, she couldn't figure out where. They met back at the interrogation room, and paused at the door. Sara sighed. "Well, we have enough for an arrest, but I have to admit that I'm not completely settled with this." She confided.

"Hey, that's what the warrant is for. We'll go search the ranch, and we're sure to find the missing file. Now, C'mon lets go make an arrest."

Once inside the room, they confronted Manny with what they had. Laid it out for her. "You had a beef with B.J. because he was taking away your money maker, you confronted him about it on Monday, but he had Miles come back out again on Tuesday. Here's what I think happened. You followed him to Chanteuse, waited for Miles to leave, stabbed him, and hurried back to the ranch so you could be there when Miles got back."

"No! No that's not what happened at all. I admit I argued with him on Monday, but I did not kill him." Manny watched them wide eyed, shaking her head.

The door opened and an officer came in. Brass motioned him to handcuff Manny. "Well, you can tell all that to a judge and jury. Manny Rhodes, you are under arrest for the murder of B.J. Johnson. You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney…" Sara listened until Brass had finished reading the rights, and then turned to Manny.

"If you truly are innocent, then the evidence will bear that out. But I have to tell you, it does not look good." Manny just stared at her as she was let out of the room. Sara sighed and followed them.

**TBC…**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI or any characters therein. The story and other characters are mine. 

**A/n:** Okay, there is only one more chapter after this, but I'm on vacation next week, so it may not be up until the next week. It depends on how much my nephew lets me work on this. I tried to finish this in this chapter, but I realized there is just too much left. As always, let me know of any mistakes. And Reviews. Reviews are nice. They make me smile. You guys are so sweet, and it's been a privilege writing for you.Oh, I started typing Billy when I meant to type Miles due to Mav, over at the GSR board on the CSI forums at actually getting to meet Billy Petersen, I ended up with Billy on the brain. Which I must admit, is not hard to do . I think I caught them all, but if you see the name Billy, let me know.

**Chapter 19**

* * *

Greg sauntered into the break room and poured himself a cup of coffee. Warrick and Sara were sitting at the table looking like they'd lost their best friend. "Hey guys, why so down?" He pulled out a chair, and sat facing them. "I thought you guys had closed your case."

"We got an arrest, but the case is far from closed." Sara leaned forward and picked up her coffee cup. "The only evidence we have that places Manny anywhere near the victim is her DNA in the wounds, but nothing anywhere to say she actually inflicted them. We have witnesses to say that she was arguing with the victim the day before, but no one saw her near him on the day of the murder. We searched her house from top to bottom and didn't find anything. Nothing came up. No murder weapon, no bloody clothes. Nothing. She owns nail files similar to what we believe to be the murder weapon, and one is missing, but if every female had to account for every nail file they'd ever lost… well, I don't think anyone could do it." Sighing she shook her head, drained the rest of her coffee, and got up to pour another cup.

From the door, Hodges spoke up. "Well, you had enough for the arrest, right? From what I hear, you have motive, means, and possible opportunity. She has no reliable alibi. The murder weapon is similar to the files she owns, of which one is missing, and she had a beef with the guy. And her DNA was on the vic. Brass couldn't arrest her without the proper evidence, so case closed." Hodges looked around at them, smiling. "Right."

"Hodges, you might want to stick with your swabs and slides. We have enough circumstantial evidence for an arrest, yes. But, for a conviction we'll need something to prove that she was the one who killed him. Blood evidence, the murder weapon with her prints on it, someone who saw her and him together on the night he was killed." Warrick pulled a file to him and opened it. "Is it possible that Miles saw her when he dropped B.J. off at the club?"

"No, I don't believe so. He was pretty sure that he didn't see her, and there's no love lost there, so if he'd seen her he'd have said so." Sara too, looked through her file.

"Is it possible he's lying about what happened when he dropped B.J. off? He had access to Manny's things; he could have taken the file, and used it to kill B.J. then." Warrick flipped to the Miles Mason portion. "Looks like he said he stopped and got something to eat on the way back to the ranch. He could have used that time to clean up."

"No. I don't think it was Miles. Maybe I just want there to be some kind of happiness come out of this, but I believe him. Plus, he has a witness to when he got back to the ranch." Sara stood up for Miles.

"Yeah, a john. Who's to say he's telling the truth?" Warrick insisted.

"What reason would he have to lie? He wasn't trying to hide what he was doing there. If he were going to lie, he would have lied about being there at all. Look, it takes thirty minutes to drive out to the ranch, and that's going at, or above the speed limit. He was back at the ranch by midnight. Which if you'll remember was the time of death. Even allowing that time of death was a little before that, he wouldn't have had time to get back to the ranch in time, and if he did somehow manage that, he wouldn't have had time to change." Sara sighed, exasperated. "Look, I'm not ruling him out completely, but I think it's highly unlikely."

"Okay, so if Miles is out, and we have Manny pinned down, who else is left?" Warrick flipped through the file. "Janet Freely, maybe we should question her again. Maybe she could tell us if she ever saw Manny with B.J. One more witness would be good." Warrick stood up. "I'll call Sophia; see if she can call Ms. Freely. Get her to come in and look at some pictures."

"Sounds good. I'll keep going through these files. Maybe something will jump out at me." Warrick walked out the door, and Sara turned to Greg. "You want to help?"

"Sorry, I would but Catherine and I are going back out to question the neighbors in our B&E." Walking towards the door, he turned and patted Hodges on the back. "Hey, maybe Hodges will give you a hand." Laughing he continued down the hall.

"So, how about it Hodges, you want to help me go through these files?" Sara looked at him smiling.

"I would, but I promised Grissom that I'd help him with something. He considers me his right hand, you know." Hodges turned and headed back to the trace lab.

"Sara turned back to the files, and mumbled to herself. "Yeah, I'll make sure to tell him that. He could use a laugh."

* * *

"Ms. Rhodes. I'm giving you a chance to come clean here. We have the evidence to prove that you were with the victim when he was killed. So, either you killed him, or you know who did. Either way, you're going to do some time. Save yourself some headache, and tell us what we want to know." Brass leaned his hands on the table, and stared into Manny's eyes.

Manny made to speak, but her attorney stopped her. "My client has already told you everything she knows. You don't have a murder weapon, or any other physical evidence to suggest my client was there. All you have is a missing nail file, and some DNA. Lots of people have access to my clients domicile. The file could have been taken by any one of them."

Brass rolled his eyes and turned and faced the expanse of mirrored wall. No one was behind there, but it always helped to give the impression that someone was. "Well, if someone else also had a reason to want B.J. Johnson dead, maybe you could tell us now." Manny didn't say anything. "Hey, why don't I give you a few minutes to think about it." Brass walked out of the interrogation room.

Warrick saw him from down the hall, and gestured to him. Brass walked up and joined him. "Hey man, you learning anything else from Manny?" Warrick sat on the bench against the wall. Brass joined him.

"Not yet, and she hired a real pit-bull of a lawyer. They seem to be going for the 'someone could have stolen that file, and killed him with it to blame me' defense."

"Well, I've got Janet Freely coming in. I'm going to show her some pictures, hope that she can pick out our suspect as someone she'd seen with Johnson before." Warrick looked up and saw Janet walk through the door. Standing up he said, "Ah, here she is. I'll take her to interview room two. Do you still have those pictures you showed Spencer Bergh?"

Brass followed him up. "Yeah, they're in my office. I'll go get 'em and bring them back to you. I'm giving our girl in there time to collect her thoughts." Brass started down the hall, while Warrick started towards reception.

"Ms, Freely, I'm glad you could come down. Won't you follow me?" Warrick turned and headed towards the door down the hall.

"Detective Curtis said that you'd arrested someone in B.J.'s murder." Janet followed him, looking concerned.

Warrick opened a door, and gestured for her to precede him. "Take a seat, this shouldn't take long." Warrick sat down opposite her. "Yes, we have a suspect in custody. What we would like to do is show you some pictures. You may have seen B.J. talking to someone, or even arguing with them. If you pick out the person we're looking into, then it may give us more to go on."

"I'll do anything to help you put the monster that killed B.J. behind bars. He may have had his faults, but I- I still loved him." They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Warrick go up and opened it. Brass handed him the pictures. "I would stay, but I think I've left them alone lone enough. The more lies we catch her in, the better. I just wish we could have found the murder weapon. That would make things so much easier." He said this in a low voice to Warrick, then turned and nodded to Janet before he left.

"Okay, let's have a look at these pictures." Warrick closed the door and returned to the table. He laid the pictures out in front of her, and told her to take her time.

She had only been looking at the pictures for a few seconds when pushed one forward. "I saw her with B.J.; she was talking to him one day. I don't remember which day it was, but I remember her because they were arguing."

"Are you sure? Take a good look." Warrick watched as she studied the photograph of Manny Rhodes.

"I'm positive. I remember because I confronted him about it. See, I thought he was cheating on me. This was before I found out that he went to that club. I confronted him about it, and he said it was just someone that he owed money to. As usual I believed him. But, this was a couple of weeks before he was killed. I didn't see that it had anything to do with that. Is this the woman you have in custody?" She leaned forward and grabbed his hands. "Did she kill him because he owed her money?"

"We're still looking into things right now. But, you've been a great help." Standing up, he nodded towards the door. "Take your time, and leave when you feel ready." He walked out the door, and continued down the hall.

* * *

"So, do you have anything else to tell me? Is there anything about your story you'd like to change?" Brass asked as he came back into the room.

"Look, I've already told you everything I know. Yes, I argued with B.J. on Monday morning. He owned me money for the services of one of my guys. I went to see him in hopes of getting him to pay. He told me that he had no intention of paying, that Miles was with him of his own free will, and therefore he didn't owe me anything. I told him that my lawyer saw it differently, and that is the last I saw of him." She scrubbed her hands over her face.

"Why'd you let Miles use your car to go meet Mr. Johnson if you weren't getting paid by him?" Brass leaned back in his chair and waited.

"I didn't know that Miles was going to meet B.J. It was his night off, so when he asked to use my car to go pick up something to eat, I didn't think much of it. At the time, I didn't know he intended to leave my employ. If I had known, I'd have thought twice about it. Look, why would I want B.J. dead? Yes, he owed me money, but it was a piddling amount compared with what I make each month. There are a lot of men out there still in the closet, and willing to pay to get there jollies in secret."

"Then how do you explain your DNA in the victim's wounds?" Brass leaned forward and slapped the table with his hand.

Manny sighed. "I don't know. All I know is that I DID NOT stab him." She crossed her arms, and stared sullenly at Brass.

"Okay, okay. Lets go over this from the beginning. Start with seeing Mr. Johnson on Monday morning." Brass settled himself in to listen.

Taking a deep breath, Manny started. "I knew where B.J. lived because I always have the new customers fill out a, well sort of a registration card. Guys usually give a P.O. Box, but he put his address. I do this in case they leave something behind and don't want to come back to get it. Or, if they owe me money, I have a way to get in touch with them. Anyway, I'd already warned him twice, by phone, that he needed to pay me, and when he still hadn't made an effort, I went to his house. I waited for him to come out, not wanting to disturb his roommate. I told him what he owned me, and he said he wasn't going to pay, Well, you already know that part. Um, after I left him. When I got home, someone woman flew out of no where and started yelling at me. I don't know her name, but she accused me of sleeping with her boyfriend. I told her that she must be mistaken, but she was insistent. I invited her in for coffee; I knew that if her guy was coming out to my place, he wasn't coming to see me. I sat her down, told her what was what, and that she was probably better off without this guy. Then … Oh yeah, one of my guys called with an emergency, and I went to help him. I left her there to calm herself. When I came back, she was gone. I figured she was better off with the knowledge, and went about my day. Mostly, I did paperwork. You know I pay my taxes to, and it never seems like the paperwork ends. Around lunch time I made myself a sandwich, then I somehow banged my hand into the cutlery drawer, and chipped my nail. I went to my purse to get my file to fix it, but I couldn't find it… um, I think I told Ms. Sidle that I noticed it missing on Sunday, but now that I'm going over it, it was on Monday. Anyway, I got out another of my files, fixed the nail and spent the rest of the day in my office. That night, I watched television, there wasn't anything really interesting on, so I went to bed around ten. Is that enough, or do you need more?"

Brass got up and started pacing the room. "That's very detailed. Now, what did you do on Tuesday?"

"Basically the same thing, except I went grocery shopping in the morning. Look, my life isn't very glamorous. I spend my days making appointments for my guys, and making sure the house runs smoothly. Tuesday night, Miles borrowed my car, and I watched Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars, then I went to bed." She watched Brass as he considered himself in the mirrored wall. "I swear to you, I did not kill anyone. I couldn't."

Brass turned back to her and watched her for a minute. "Did you get the name of the woman you talked to on Monday morning?"

"No, it was more of her screaming at me to stay away from her man, then me doing the explaining about it not being me her man was into. I was going to ask her name, and find out what her boyfriends name was, but like I said, I got called away, and when I got back she was gone." She looked at her lawyer, who had sat there silently and let her explain, then looked back at Brass. "I wish there was something else to tell, but if there is, I can't remember it."

"What did this woman look like? What kind of car did she drive?" Brass pushed.

"Average. Short brown hair, blue eyes. Slim. On the short side. About the car, I really don't remember. It was a dark color, black, dark blue maybe. I didn't really see it at all until she came up and started yelling at me. I'm afraid I just didn't notice it."

"Look, my client has told you everything she knows. She's cooperated with you way more than I advised. I suggest you got and find the person that's responsible for this crime.

"I think we've gotten everything we're going to get from Ms. Rhodes." Brass told Warrick as they strolled down the hall. "And I have to tell you, I'm thinking more and more that she didn't do this."

"If you take out the DNA evidence, then yeah, it seems unlikely, but how do you explain the DNA?" Warrick shook his head. "It just doesn't make sense."

"All I can…"

"Captain Brass! Captain Brass, wait a second." Warrick and Brass turned and watched as a young deputy came running up to them. "Captain Brass, a call just came in. An anonymous tip that said if you want to find the murder weapon in the Johnson case, you need to look in the back seat of Ms. Rhodes car."

Warrick and Brass shared a look. "An anonymous tip, huh. How convenient. Tell me Deputy, when did this tip come in?"

"Not five minutes ago. I thought you'd want to know right away." The officer propped his hands on his hips and threw out his chest.

"Okay, thanks Deputy. You can go back to your duties now." Brass tuned to head out, but the Deputy stopped him.

"B-but I was hoping I could come with you and help search the car." His tone came as close to begging as he would probably allow it to.

"What do you know about this case?" Brass inquired.

"I-I've been following it ever since the search went out for the Temple woman. If you want my opinion, I think she's still a viable suspect."

"Deputy…."

"Brown, Sir, Ian Brown. I was the one who called and let you know they were bringing the Temple woman in." He smiled proudly.

"Deputy Brown yes, well I thank you for your help, but I think we've got this." Smiling, he turned and headed down the hall, leaving the deputy standing there.

Warrick followed along, "Don't you think you were a little tough on him?"

"No. That young man has to learn that there's an order to things. Now, about this tip. Don't you think it's odd that just when we need to know where the file is, someone calls and tells us it's in the suspects' car?

"I don't know. I say we check it out. If it is there, we can see what evidence we can find to determine how it got there. Where is the car now?" Warrick stopped and looked through the doors leading out of the station.

"As far as I know, it's still out in the parking lot. I was going to arrange for it to be towed, but I hadn't gotten to that yet."

"Well, let's go out and have a look. I just need to stop at my car to pick up my kit"  
Warrick and Brass walked outside, and squinted at the sunlight.

"When did the sun come out?" Warrick asked as he opened the door to the Denali.

Looking at his watch, Brass laughed. "Well, I couldn't say exactly, but as it's after eleven AM, it's been a while."

"Dang, I was hoping to get home on time today." Warrick lifted out his kit, and turned to survey the lot. "Is that it over there?"

Brass took out his notebook and looked for the make and model of Manny's car. "It looks like it. Let me check the tag number." After verifying that it was the correct car, Warrick started processing the outside.

After a few minutes, he called out. "Oh ho, I think I've got something. All the door handles but this one have prints on it. Now, why would Manny wipe her prints from her own door and from only one door at that?"

"I don't know, but I just remembered. Manny wasn't driving her car on the night of the murder, so why would she put the murder weapon in it after Miles returned it?"

"I don't know, why don't we see what else we can find out?" Warrick went back to processing the inside of the car. As he searched under the back seat, he came upon the bloody file." Sharing a look with Brass, he bagged it. "I'm going to get this back to the lab for processing."

**TBC...**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer:** I do not own CSI or any CSI character. The story, and other characters are all mine.

**A/n:** Well here it is, the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I hope I don't let you down with the ending. As usual, if you see any mistakes, let me know.

* * *

**Chapter 20**

"So the DNA came back a match to B.J. Johnson, but we didn't get so lucky on fingerprints." Warrick pushed his chair back and got up. He walked over to the drink machine and dug in his pocket for change. "That is to say, there were no fingerprints, however there were glove prints, most likely suede." He deliberated between regular or diet , finally going with diet. Tina had made a remark about his weight that morning and he had decided it might be best to watch his caloric intake.

"Well, it would seem really odd for Manny to wear gloves while killing the guy, then hide the murder weapon in her own car." Sara watched as he returned to his seat.

"Yeah, plus we know that Manny wasn't driving her car the night of the murder, so why put the file in there after the fact?" He watched Sara get up and get a drink. Picking up the drink, she sighed. "Damn, I meant to get diet. She looked over at Warrick. "Do you mind switching? It's not like you need diet anyway."

Warrick laughed. "Since when do you worry about your weight?"

"Okay, I just noticed that you got diet, and you never get diet. I figured it might have been a mistake." She sat down and pushed her can towards him.

He pushed his can towards her and shook his head. "Yeah, I believe that like I believe that Hodges 'accidentally' ate Nick's ham sandwich, leaving him his own sandwich that was contaminated with that experiment that you know who had left in the fridge. But, have it your way. Back to the case, it's looking pretty conclusive that someone is trying to frame Manny. But who, and why?"

"Maybe it was someone who thought B.J. was sleeping with Manny, but when confronted with the truth, decided to take matters in their own hands." Nick said from the doorway.

Sara and Warrick turned to him. Sara shook her head. "If you mean who I think you mean, I can see why she would have wanted to kill him, but I don't see how she could have gotten Manny's nail file."

Warrick pulled a file towards him and opened it. "She did say she had an argument with Manny, but she said it was a week ago, and the file didn't go missing until Monday."

Didn't Manny say a woman came by on Monday morning? Accused her of sleeping with B.J. What if Janet lied about when she argued with Manny? I mean, everything she said before could be discounted if that was a lie." Sara tapped the file.

"Look we don't have a shred of evidence that points to her." Warrick pointed out.

"Then we need to look closer." Sara stood up. "Let's see if we can find a reason to get Janet Freely back in"

* * *

Brass extended his hand and clasped Janet's. "Thanks for coming back down, we just need to ask a few follow up questions. You know, dot the 'i's' and cross the 't's'." He smiled at her. 

"No problem. I'll do anything I can." Janet looked around nervously.

"Just come this way." Brass took her elbow and started down the hall. As they passed one of the interrogation rooms, Sophia was leading Manny out.

Janet gave a loud gasp and turned to look at Brass. He turned to her and smiled. "Is something wrong?"

"Wasn't that the woman who killed B.J. ?" She turned to watch as Sophia and Manny made their way down the hall.

"Uh, well there may be a snag with that." Brass opened a door, and motioned for her to precede him.

"What do you mean, 'a snag'? Didn't you find the murder weapon in her car?" Janet asked nervously as she sat down.

Brass studied her for a moment. "That fact wasn't released to the public. How is it you not only know that the weapon was found, but where it was found?"

"It-I don't know. I just heard it somewhere. I don't know where."

"Yeah, well wait here, I'll be back in a few minutes." Brass exited the room and walked down to where Sophia was waiting with Sara.

"So, did she recognize her?" He asked.

"She said she was almost positive that it was her… Sophia started.

"…but that she was wearing large sunglasses when she accosted her." Sara finished.

Sophia shook her head. "But, she was sure enough."

"Okay, well Nick said that she mentioned having more than one pair of gloves in her locker. Maybe we can find out a way to check that out. See if there's a pair that are no-longer restaurant sanitary." Brass turned and headed for his office.

* * *

"That locker belongs to Janet, and I can't let you into it unless you bring me something more concrete than a fight with some chick." The head manager of Glacier turned and folder his arms. "Unless you bring me a warrant, that locker stays closed." 

"I understand where you're coming from Mr. Conrad. There is one other thing, is it possible to talk to the people that were working on Monday and Tuesday?" Warrick tried to be polite, not wanting to get thrown out of the restaurant entirely.

"Well, I guess that would be okay. Most of them are here already, and the rest will be trickling in, in about an hour. It's payday, and everyone usually makes it in before ten." He turned and pointed towards the kitchen and gestured to two waitresses. "Molly, Millie, come over here. This fella wants to ask you guys some questions."

The blond waitress grinned at Warrick and asked, "What's this about handsome?"

The brunette tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and winked at him. "You can ask me anything, Sweetie."

Warrick cleared his throat and turned to the blond. "Ma'am, I'd like to ask you if you worked with Janet Freely on Tuesday."

"The brunette spoke up. "I worked with her. Is she is some kind of trouble?"

'Um, Ms…?" Warrick paused with a questioning look and pen poised.

"Jenkins, but you can call me Millie." She grinned, revealing pearly white teeth. They reminded him of a piranha.

"Millie. I'm sorry, but I can't say much about an ongoing case. I just have a few questions. When you were working on Tuesday, did anyone come in and talk to Janet?" Warrick looked at her expectantly.

"Um, not that I can remember. We were pretty slow that night, until around ten when we had a bus load of people come in. I know she was there when we were slow because we ended up mostly hanging out in the kitchen." She looped one arm behind her back and hooked it around the other one, a move that thrusts her quite full breasts in his direction.

"What about during the day? What time did you guys get into work?" Warrick steadfastly ignored the view she was presenting him with.

"Oh, we got in around four. She gave me a ride because my car is in the shop. She was supposed to do so again today, but she never showed up."

"Was she here all night on Tuesday? And what was her mood like?" Warrick leaned on the edge of a table.

"I don't remember her leaving, and she was here to drive me home at closing. But, Molly and I were in the show that night, and we didn't see much of her after that.." Millie looked at Molly.

"Me neither. As for her mood, she seemed okay. She doesn't talk much about her personal life. She did mention, oh, I think it was last week, or at least not long ago, that she thought her boyfriend was cheating on her." She nodded to Millie. "We told her that she should follow him when he goes out, find out for sure, and if it was true, we'd take on a girls night and make sure she'd drunk enough that she wouldn't even remember her own name, much less the name of that creep."

"Did she follow your advice?"

Millie answered. "I don't know. She'd been kinda quiet lately. I asked her if she wanted to talk about it, but she just blew me off. Said she didn't want to talk about it, and hey, I didn't want to push."

"Did you both work with her on Monday?" Warrick turned a page in his notebook.

"Yeah, though we didn't talk much." Molly answered with a yawn. "Sorry, late night."

"Can you at least try and remember what day she talked about her boyfriend cheating?"

Millie thought for a moment. "Lets see, I'm pretty sure it was the day I had that waxing appointment." She lifted her leg, so that it was pointed toward the ceiling. "The guy I go to is an absolute marvel. Doesn't miss one single hair. And it doesn't hurt a bit." From Warrick view point, he could see she really meant this.

Averting his eyes, he turned to Molly. "And what day was that?"

"Um, Saturday. I know because I was off that night, and I had just come in to grab something from my locker." Millie lowered her leg.

"Okay, thank you. One last question, where are the lockers, and how easy would it be to get to them without being seen?" Warrick looked back to Millie.

"Technically that was two questions, but I'll let it slide. The lockers are in the back. You can come in the back door, and they're behind a little wall partition. So yeah, as long as no one was back there you could get in without being seen. Of course anyone could come in at anytime, so there's no real privacy." Molly answered this one.

"Okay, thanks for your time ladies. I'll…" He was interrupted by the ring of his phone. Holding up a finger, he saw that it was Sara and answered.

Sara rushed in before Warrick could say anything. "Hey 'Rick. Guess what? We just got a location on Johnson's phone. Are you still at Glacier?"

"Yeah, I'm still here. Why?" Warrick turned away from the two waitresses.

"The signal is coming from inside the restaurant. I'm going to give the number a ring. If you haven't been able to get into Janet's locker, go stand around it. Maybe you can hear the ring, and that will get us a warrant." Sara disconnected without saying goodbye.

"Warrick saw the manager and hurried over. "I know you can't let me into the locker, but can I at least go into the locker room?"

"I don't know. I don't want any trouble." The manager hedged.

"There won't be any trouble unless we find out you knew what Janet was up to, and impeded the investigation." Warrick bluffed.

"Okay, okay." He pointed to a small hallway off the kitchen. "The lockers are down that way."

Warrick made his way back to the locker area. When he got there he listened intently. He heard a faint song coming from one of the lockers. Turning to the manager, who had followed him, he asked. "Whose locker is this?"

"Uh, that's Janet's." He answered, looking pale.

Suddenly his phone rang. The display said Sanders. "Yeah Greg what…"

Sara interrupted him before he finished. "It's me. I borrowed Greg's phone so I could keep mine connected to B.J.'s number. Do you hear anything?"

"Yeah, it sounds like a song. Do you know what B.J.'s ring tone was?" Warrick listened carefully to the song coming from the locker.

"Yes, I called Miles and he said his ring tone was 'Copacabana', by Barry Manilow." Warrick listened intently. He recognized the tune, and heard the words, _…yellow feathers in her hair_. Straightening, he put the phone back to his ear. "We have confirmation. Call Judge Carroll and get a warrant. I'll stay here and make sure no one comes near this locker."

* * *

Brass opened the door to the interrogation room and walked in. Janet jumped up when she saw him. "How long am I going to be here?! You've had me here for hours, and I have work to do." She glared at him. 

"We're about to be finished. Why don't you sit down. I know you've been here a long time, but it looks like your stay is going to be even longer than you anticipated." He turned as the door opened and Sara walked in. "This is CSI Sidle, I don't know if you met before. She's here to show you a few things."

Sara nodded at her and walked to the table and laid a file folder on it. "Ms. Freely, we have evidence to suggest that you killed B.J. Johnson."

Janet's eyes widened and she gasped. "Wh-what? I don't know what you mean."

"Ms. Freely, while you so generously waited here, we were searching your locker at work. Don't worry, we had a warrant. And I must say, what we found was very interesting." Sara sat and opened the file folder. She took out several pictures and laid them out in from of Janet.

"See? Here's a bloody glove. We're testing the DNA; we believe that it will come back as belonging to Mr. Johnson." She pointed to the next picture. "And here is a cell phone, identified as belonging to Mr. Johnson, and if you look closely, you can see these tiny droplets of blood. We're testing them also."

Janet glared mutely. Moving on to the next picture, Sara pointed. "These clothes are also spattered with blood. Stabbing someone to death can be dirty business." Sara stared at her a moment, waiting to see if she said something. When she remained silent, Sara continued. "Here is a picture of a bundle of cash. Ten thousand dollars. We have a witness that is willing to testify that he gave Mr. Johnson that exact amount just minutes before he was killed."

Sara crossed her legs and leaned forward. "Here's what we think happened. You suspected that B.J. was cheating on you, so on the advice of some friends, you followed him. You saw him arguing with Manny Rhodes outside of his house. Deciding to warn her off, you followed her and accosted her. During the confrontation, Manny filled you in on what B.J. was really doing. She then left, and you got an idea. Taking a nail file from her purse, you left, figuring she either wouldn't notice it missing, or wouldn't care." Sara stopped a moment and looked at Brass. "How am I doing so far?"

"Oh, I'm intrigued, please continiue." Brass sat back and settled in.

Sara turned back to Janet."Then you went to work, giving a co-worker a ride. Around eleven you got busy, and we talked to the manager on duty that night. She said that you said you weren't feeling well and asked if you could run to the drug store and get some medicine. You left and went to Chanteuse. You saw B.J.'s car there, and after checking out inside, saw that he wasn't around. You made sure you weren't seen. You walked around behind the club. We talked to the bartender, and he remembered that he had told you that when B.J. would come in, he would leave with someone. And that he'd seen them go out the back way. So, knowing this, you went to the alley, and waited. Eventually you saw him pull up and get out of a car, but not before seeing him kiss the man in the car goodnight. This just confirmed in your mind what had to be done. You were hidden in the shadows, and when the car had driven away, you got his attention. We're not sure how you got him to take off his clothes, and not fight back, but you stabbed him. Over and over. Probably in the heart first. Rage gave you the strength. Then, you grabbed his stuff. We didn't know why you took his phone until we checked the missed calls. You called raving about him cheating on you. Swearing that he'd pay. The time looks to be about the time you were following Manny. We figure you thought if we heard that, we might not believe the grieving act. And he'd borrowed money from you and here his was with ten thousand dollars. You of course thought the money should be yours, so you took it. You went back to work, changed into an extra uniform and gloves, put the other clothes in a bag and stuffed everything in your locker. You couldn't take them with you when you left in the morning because you had to give Millie a ride. Same goes for the next couple of days. When you over heard Captain Brass telling CSI Brown that we needed the murder weapon, slipped in, removed it from your locker, being careful not to leave any prints. You planted it in Manny's car. Of course you didn't know that Manny didn't have her car that night, so we would never believe that she would put the weapon in it after the fact. How'd I do?"

Janet was silent for a moment, then sneered. "That bastard didn't deserve to live. He treated me like his personal bank, and then I find out he's not only cheating on me, but fucking men! He's a freaking homo who pays for his dates, probably using my money! No, no that wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to get away with humiliating me. And you know, it was easy enough to get him to remove his clothes. I just told him that I'd thought about it and decided to give him the money he'd asked for. See, he'd asked me about it on Sunday, and at home, not at work, but I didn't figure you guys would look into that." Tears began slipping down her cheeks. "After I told him I'd give him the money, he was willing to do anything I suggested." She paused and took a tissue from the box on the counter. She blew her nose, and took another tissue and wiped away the mascara that was running.

Sara jumped in." Is that when he got the mascara on his fingers?"

She sniffled." Yeah, I thought crying a little would lull him into thinking I was just as wimpy as he thought I was. Anyway, after he flipped out about the money, I told him I'd always fantasized about getting it on in public, and asked him to do me up against the wall. He was so hyped, he didn't think twice, just started to unbutton his pants. I told him I wanted him totally naked, and when he saw that I wasn't undressing and asked me why I wasn't joining in, I told him I wanted to be dressed while he was completely naked, I was wearing my waitress uniform and it has a short skirt, and of course he believed me. I pushed him up against the wall and told him to close his eyes. Then I stabbed him. You're right. I started right over the heart, and the only sound he made was a small gasp. I don't remember how many times I stabbed him, but I just couldn't stop. Finally I realized I had to get out of there. I threw is clothes and wallet in the dumpster and took the rest with me. I wasn't going to let him ruin my life."

Brass motioned for the officer standing by the door, and instructed him to read her, her rights. Sara looked on sadly. All she could say was. "No, you ruined it yourself."

* * *

Warrick up the path to his house, carrying a bouquet of flowers. He was going to surprise Tina with a romantic dinner. When he walked through the door, all he found was a note. _'Out with friends, be back late'_. Looking around the empty apartment, he sighed. He walked into the kitchen, made himself a ham sandwich and turned on the television. Surely there was some kind of game on.

* * *

Catherine walked into her empty house and pulled open the fridge. Grabbing a carton of yogurt she sprawled out on the sofa. She'd spent all day at a B&E in Seven Hills. Again, there was practically no evidence. She flipped on the television to find something to watch.

* * *

Greg threw a dart, and it landed just shy of a bullseye. Nick stepped up and his landed on the outside ring. Mandy jumped off her bar stool and took up her dart, landing it neatly in the center. Wendy came over with their drinks. "Wow, I guess you guys should take some lessons. Hey, guess who's here." She pointed to Brass and Sophia who had just walked in the door. "Should we ask them to join us?" 

"Sure", replied Nick, "The more the merrier." And he gestured for them to join them.

* * *

Yawning, Sara opened the door, and walked into the townhouse. Calling out, she walked down the hall. She knew Grissom was home, he'd left a message on her cell that he would be heading home at eight, and it was now after nine. She headed towards the bedroom, calling out as she went. She still hadn't received an answer when she reached the bedroom. Opening the door, she stopped and smiled. Gil was laid out on the bed, fully dressed, and sound asleep. He had a book propped on his chest, and his glasses were slipping down his nose. One of his arms was across his stomach, the other flung out next to him, as if searching for something in his sleep. Walking over she sat down next to him, and removed the glasses. Setting them on the side table, she lifted the book up, and looked at the title, _'The Mating Habits of the South American Long Horned Beetle.'_ Shaking her head, she sat it down next to the glasses. She removed her shoes and crawled up and lay with her head on his shoulder. She reached up and turned off the light, and drifted softly into sleep. 

**The End

* * *

**

**A/n2:** Again, thanks for reading. Up next "Knick Knacks", After several months, Catherine is no closer to finding the people responsible for breaking into some of the more posh homes of Las Vegas. Things take a turn for the worst when a couple is murdered.

The rest of the gang will be there too. GSR of course and who knows what else will happen.

This will come in a couple of weeks. I'm taking a breather, and may write a one shot here or there, but I need time to catch up on my favorite stories. If you haven't read anything by CSIclue, go read the Candy Shop series. It is seriously great.


End file.
